Despite their best efforts to organize massive national protests against Target for the retail chain’s transgender-inclusive policies, Christian activist group Faith2Action ‘s “Don’t Target Our Daughters Day” flopped spectacularly over the weekend with only a handful of sparse protests nationwide.

Faith2Action president and founder Janet Porter organized the failed campaign using a gruesome promotional video with an upbeat singer informing everyone that “No matter how loud it’s shouted, sin is not a civil right” in which a man emerges from a bathroom stall to assault a young girl in the next stall.

Though the event was meant to capitalize on the ongoing harassment of Target customers and employees by transphobic Christians across the nation, the event ended up showcasing just how weak the right’s newest LGBT attack really is. It’s easy to take thirty seconds to sign an online petition to remove someone’s rights; it’s a whole different ballgame showing up in person without the cloak of internet anonymity to rally for the removal of a person’s civil rights.

That’s why – nationwide – reports have only emerged from rural Ohio, Idaho, Florida, and Louisiana. In most instances protesters carried signs outside Target locations either mischaracterizing or outright lying about Target’s policies (such as saying “Target abuses kids”, for instance).

“We’re concerned about sex offenders and predators,” said Rachel Johnson, one of the protesters in rural Ohio. “Sex offenders are looking for innocent victims. Target has given them open access to the women’s bathroom.”

Besides utilizing easily-debunked conservative talking points about trans-inclusive laws leading to increases in bathroom-related assaults, Johnson and other protesters at that rally offered no retort to what should be an easy question a counter protester posed.

“What about the pedophile men (being) with their sons?” asked Samantha Hypes referring to alleged attackers already having access to men’s rooms and the children who use them.

And it’s true: the new wave of anti-transgender hatred led by nationally recognized hate groups (previously focused on gay rights) uses the exact same arguments previously used against gay men and applies them to transgender women. Just as it is the case that gay men are no more likely to be pedophiles or sexual attackers than their heterosexual male counterparts, trans women are no more likely to rape or molest anyone in a bathroom than their cisgender female counterparts.

Furthermore, offering transgender-inclusive bathrooms to the trans community has never (in the decades laws have been on the books) led to increases in crime where sex offenders suddenly see an ‘opening’ to assault women and children. It’s literally never happened following the enactment of trans-inclusive policies.

If these armchair Christian activist warriors truly were concerned about potential sex offenders, they’d both include their underage sons in the argument as well as spend their time lobbying state and local government for harsher sentences for such crimes rather than protesting a retail chain’s right to enact internal policies.

After all, it’s still illegal to assault someone in a bathroom with or without transgender-inclusive protections. If they honestly believe in their heart of hearts these protections will somehow incentivize predators, why aren’t they addressing the incentive rather than attacking those they claim they have no beef with?

That’s the crux of the issue though: they do have an issue with transgender men and women just as they had issues with gays and lesbians existing side by side with them in every facet of society. It’s why one women at the Mansfield, Ohio rally held a religious indoctrination sign while another man held a sign misquoting a Bible verse to attack the trans community. It’s why these so-called Christians continue calling trans women men despite the medical and psychological community’s consensus not only on the science of being transgender but the methods of assisting those whose gender identity does not match the sex assigned at birth.

It’s fear of what they do not understand, and attempts to legislate away the rights of those they find personally abominable.

Fortunately, the majority of Americans appear to have the common sense to understand science and to realize screaming at people in the middle of a Target store only serves to alienate people rather than bring them into the Christian fold. It’s why of the 1700+ Target stores across the nation, Porter’s “nationwide” protest barely made local news in the handful of small towns where enough hate-driven white Christians could gather under the guise of protecting children to demonstrate hate is still alive and well in America in 2016.

Previously:

Peacock Panache readers:

Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time he’s worn several hats including leading on campus LGBTQ advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.

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