Two of the most bigoted political attacks in America backfire in Texas and Iowa

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Two of the most bigoted political attacks in America backfire in Texas and Iowa
by Erik Boehlert

Republicans are running into red state objections as they try to create a wedge issue around transgender bathroom use.


The GOP strategy of trying to a reignite cultural war under the banner of attacking transgender people isn’t working out the way some Republicans hoped.
Fueled by right-wing evangelicals who have launched a bullying, bigoted crusade to turn public bathrooms into a lightning rod for a larger cultural shoving match, the so-called bathroom bill movement aims to single out transgender people, especially children, for ridicule and discrimination.
The issue’s now playing out against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s intolerant call to ban all transgender members of the U.S. military, the move that has been widely condemned as discriminatory and unnecessary.
But politically, the fringe-right’s bathroom crusade isn’t working. Recent and pending political setbacks in Texas and Iowa highlight how the divisive issue isn’t paying off, even in red states.
In Texas, culture warrior Gov. Greg Abbott called a special summer session so legislators could wrangle over a bill to regulate public restroom use based on a person’s biological sex at birth. But thanks to a vast coalition of progressives, law enforcement, big business and even some Lone Star Republican leaders who have all expressed opposition to the bill, the initiative appears doomed and likely won’t even be brought up for a vote this week.

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