Concerned Women for America (CWA) applauds Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) for his recent letter to the CEO of Target calling on the company to detail its plans to protect women and children from potential danger as a result of their recent change to their restroom policy. Concerned Women for America has urged its over half a million members to forego shopping at Target Stores while the open access policy is in place, and we commend the Attorney General for acknowledging that Target is placing its customers at risk in the name of “political correctness.” CWA would also urge the Attorneys General of other states to take similar action to protect the women and children of their state.
Making it unlawful for a person of the opposite gender of that which is on their birth certificate is not meant to discriminate against those who identify as transgender. It is a commonsense regulation to protect women and children. Concerned Women for America is not stating that those who identify as transgender are committing sexual assault, but, instead that these laws would allow those who would do harm to women and children to pose as transgender individuals to obtain entry into women’s restrooms. A simple Google search proves that this has already occurred in multiple public venues (most recently in Frisco, Texas — http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2016/05/girl-caught-man-recording-her-in-target-changing-room-frisco-police-say.html/).
There are over 840,000 individuals on the sex offender registry in the U.S. and its territories, who would, under Target’s new policy, be allowed in public women’s restrooms. On average, there are 293,066 victims of rape and sexual assault each year, and studies show that around 33 percent of those cases are perpetrated on school property or in a public area such a commercial venue.
Target shoppers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in public restrooms. Concerned Women for America thanks Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for taking courageous steps to ensure the protection of women and children.