Wednesday, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins hosted a special program with Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and North Carolina Lt. Governor Dan Forest to discuss what states are doing to protect the safety and privacy of women and children.
Forest responded to critics of his state’s bathroom bill, noting that Forbes had just named the Tar Heel State the No. 2 state to do business in the country, while CEO Magazine named North Carolina No. 1. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created there in the past couple of years, he added.
“Businesses are still moving here; people are still moving here in record numbers,” he said. “The latest numbers that the governor just threw out yesterday, related to the NCAA and all of these sporting events, they said that could cost the state of North Carolina $250 million dollars [but] that is less than one-quarter of one percent of our annual GDP in our state.”
Forest said North Carolina won’t “put a price tag” on the safety, security and privacy of its women and children, especially for a sporting event.
Patrick also debunked the “negative economic impact” argument of liberals and LGBT activists. He noted that those states that protect privacy and public safety are thriving, while those that insist upon “bathroom equality” are suffering economically.
“That’s the real data. And then again in Houston there’s been no economic downturn at all that we can find. Not a business. Not a dollar,” he said. “Here is the real data point on economics. Houston had the Super Bowl. I don’t know of one business that hasn’t come to Houston since the voters stood up and said we don’t want men in ladies’ rooms.
“With our bill, we’re really focused on the women as we see them as being vulnerable, not on the transgender issue as much as all the sexual predators who will exploit these rules to go into the ladies’ room.”
The lieutenant governors were joined by Kaeley Triller Haver, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse survivor who also is a former employee of the YMCA, which published new guidelines in 2016 that allow restroom and changing room access on the basis of “gender identity.” During her portion of the discussion, she explained how much of the abuse she endured happened in showers.
She also shared why she refused to go along with the YMCA’s bathroom policy. And, she talked about the great lengths she went to try to protect those who were visiting the Y facility where she worked and to ensure employees and patrons weren’t preying upon women and children.
“I would find people in our database who were convicted sex offenders who had gotten through somehow,” she said. “I’ve sat there and I’ve watched the video surveillance footage trying to catch them after it’s been too late.
Haver said there is a real risk in opening up all locker rooms and showers merely on the basis of “gender identity.” She said the phrase, constructed by liberal activists, is “synonymous with ‘anything goes’.”
See the video above for the entire discussion. {eoa}
