Anti-transgender legislation continues to be an issue in states across the country. Even in Tennessee, conservative lawmakers continue to draft laws aimed at limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ citizens with all the vigor they can muster. They say they want to protect children and the rights of women. They believe transgender people are dangerous and pose a threat to children and women, both physically and socially.
That’s their rhetoric, and there’s one thing the right is very good at doing — remaining consistent with their rhetoric — from the pulpits to the fire pits.
But is this a slippery slope? Do we really want this in our government? The patron saint of conservatism, Ronald Reagan, once said that “Man is not free unless government is limited.”
The Republican Revolution lays out three edicts: “stay out of my life, stay out of my business and stay out of my wallet.”
Call me obtuse, but I don’t believe passing laws that direct people to specific bathrooms and prohibit medically necessary treatments qualifies as “limited government.” But here we are, allowing them to tell us one thing and doing another.