Target, Obama administration change gender policy

Jalen+McClain%2C+reporter

Jalen McClain, reporter

Target has been in the news a lot lately due to a changed bathroom policy.

This bathroom policy allows people to use any bathroom as long as they identify themselves as that gender.

According to USA today published April 28, more than 700,000 people pledged to boycott Target because of this.

“A conservative Christian activist group has gained more than half a million signatures and counting from people pledging to boycott Target over its transgender bathroom policy,” Hadley Malcolm wrote.

“The petition started by the American Family Association on Wednesday (April 27) raises concerns that Target’s inclusive stance on transgender rights encourages sexual predators and puts women and young girls in danger, because a man can simply say he ‘feels like a woman today’ and enter the women’s restroom,” Malcolm wrote.

This is a valid point, but I feel like people are only outraged because so much attention has been put on the issue.

If Target did this without making it news, nobody would have been affected by it.

I do believe that if somebody wants to change their gender “when they feel like it” they should have to go to the Secretary of State.

If there was a requirement to go there each time you changed your gender, then it would put a stop to most, if not all, of the issues people are having with this policy.

Target is not the only one that is under fire for this policy.

CNN reported that the Obama administration issued guidance Friday directing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity.

“A joint letter from the Departments of Education and Justice went to schools Friday with guidelines to ensure that ‘transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment,’ the Obama administration said,” Emanuella Grinberg reported on Saturday, May 14.

This could create problems among students because many students are immature and they could just easily identify themselves as a female or male and use the bathroom just to make other students uncomfortable.

Another problem is sports. Some schools go beyond this policy and do not discriminate for sports.

A male can identify himself as a female, and if he is stronger, he can easily overpower a female in girls’ wrestling or softball, for instance.

I can see all of the concerns people are coming up with that are somewhat correct, but I feel like this will not be a big deal in today’s society.