A coalition of fundie groups in Washington state is trying really hard to derail the Evergreen State’s protections for transgender people. How hard? Well, some of them have suggested that they should chase women into the bathroom in order to get them to sign a petition to get their bigoted measure on the fall ballot.
Back in March, “Just Want Privacy,” a coalition led by the Family Policy Institute of Washington, announced an effort to overturn Washington’s decade-old protections of bathroom access for transgender people. The so-called “Initiative 1515” would not only overturn the 2006 ruling from the state Human Rights Commission guaranteeing bathroom access, but it would ban the commission from ever enacting such rules again. The measure would also ban local governments from enacting transgender protections, and allow students to sue school districts whenever someone of the “wrong” sex is caught in the “wrong” bathroom.
Recently, the Gender Justice League and Fuse Washington got its hands on audio that FPIW director Joseph Backholm was actively encouraging male canvassers to follow women into the bathroom in order to get them to sign the petition.
At an April 27 meeting, Backholm offered this suggestion:
“For the gentlemen, what I would encourage you to do, if you want to be so bold and to make the point, take your petition and stand outside the women’s restroom at the mall, and if any of the women don’t want to sign it, just go ahead and follow ’em on in. Maybe this will be a better time to sign our little petition…and we can make the point that way.”
Two days later, on the FPIW weekly podcast, Backholm and FPIW communications director Zach Freeman discussed this outrageous idea.
BACKHOLM: “My favorite signature gathering strategy for all the men out there: go to the mall, go to the store, stand outside the women’s locker room, take it to the gym with you, stand outside the women’s locker room and gather signatures from the women, and if they decline, then follow them into the bathroom…”
FREEMAN: (over Backholm) “And then they will sign it.”
BACKHOLM: “…and ask them if now would be a better time. And see what kind of a response you would get.”
At a May 10 meeting in a Tacoma church, Backholm joked that he and another canvasser would show up naked at a women’s spa and tell the women there, “If you don’t think we should be here, you need to sign our petition.”
Fuse and the Gender Defense League took the recordings to KIRO-TV in Seattle. When the station tried to collar Backholm, he refused to comment. Just Want Privacy’s only comment on the matter is a statement on its Facebook page claiming that Backholm was only joking about following women into the bathroom. However, I listened to the FPIW podcast recorded on April 29, and Backholm sounded dead serious. And even if he wasn’t being serious, what kind of twisted mind would even think that harassing someone in a bathroom is a joking matter?
Gender Action League director Danni Askini doesn’t think this is a bit funny. She’s learned that Backholm has made similar comments “at other trainings,” and believes it’s “setting a tone” for the entire pro-1515 campaign. When King County sheriff John Urqhart heard the recordings, he issued a stern warning to Just Want Privacy–if a male canvasser follows a woman into a bathroom, “he’s going to get arrested, at least by my deputies.”
No matter where you stand on transgender rights, Backholm’s comments–even if they were a joke–are completely unacceptable. Washington Won’t Discriminate, the main coalition opposing Initiative 1515, started a petition calling for Just Want Privacy to fire Backholm. Sign here. He needs to lose his day job as well. Drop the FPIW a line on their Website, or send them a message on their Facebook page or on Twitter.
