Last month, Massachusetts voted to keep an anti-discrimination law that protected transgender rights. It wasn’t even close; the ballot measure passed with 67% of the votes. It was excellent news for supporters of civil rights… and bad news for Christian bigots who believe treating LGBTQ people with respect violates their faith.

The result also led to some soul-searching from anti-trans hate groups like MassResistance, whose leaders are trying to figure out where they went “wrong” and what they can do to secure wins in the future.

Their most surprising revelation? They admitted it didn’t help their side talking about predatory men dressing up as women and hunting for victims in bathrooms because it was “largely contrived.” (No kidding. That’s exactly what decent people have been saying for years: Trans people use the bathrooms for the same reason as everybody else, not because they’re searching for prey.)

The rallying cry of the pro-family groups trying to repeal the law was the well-known “bathroom safety” argument — that in addition to transgenders, this law allows male sexual predators to lurk in women’s restrooms to prey on girls and women. This was technically true, but was largely contrived. They also talked about privacy in restrooms and locker rooms. They did NOT address the “civil rights” claim — which gave the LGBT lobby a complete free pass to use it without pushback. Nor did they address the bizarre and delusional nature of transgenderism itself in their arguments, except to say that transgenders “already have good legal protections” and didn’t need more. … Now with the “transgender anti-discrimination” bills the same thing is happening. Our side concocted the “bathroom safety” male predator argument as a way to avoid an uncomfortable battle over LGBT ideology, and still fire up people’s emotions. It worked in Houston a few years ago. But the LGBT lobby has now figured out how to beat it. Their lopsided victory in Massachusetts will likely be repeated everywhere else unless the establishment pro-family groups (and their wealthy donors) are willing to change their tactics.

In other words, the “pro-family” side chose the wrong lie, allowing sensible people to write them off as fear-mongering haters, and that’s why people voted in support of civil rights. (Oh, the horror.)

Don’t worry, though. These Christian bigots have proposed a smarter path forward:

About a month before the election, MassResistance activists formed their own “No to 3” ballot committee to campaign on this. They felt strongly that three important points were not being presented to the public: (1) the LGBT movement’s “civil rights” argument has no basis whatsoever; (2) that “transgenderism” is actually a mental disorder and a destructive ideology, and (3) this law forces people to accept an absurd lie — men can never become women.

So… their new plan consists of WHAT?!, WEIRD!!, and ?!??!.

Good luck with all that.

This is the problem with the anti-LGBTQ crowd. They come from a place of ignorance, making it easy to turn their perceived enemies into caricatures. The LGBTQ people they describe aren’t the monsters the rest of us know in real life. That’s why marriage equality swiftly gained acceptance over the past decade — because the public realized conservative Christians were lying about the repercussions. It’s why this ballot measure passed, too. Voters realized the same hate groups were lying about the so-called dangers of being around trans people.

Nothing will change if they just shift their focus to different brands of bullshit. But that’s all they have.

(via PinkNews. Screenshot via YouTube)

