Response to Seth Meyers Defense of HERO

Today, the following video from Seth Meyers has been trending on Facebook. Though told in a comedic manner, these are EXACTLY the arguments that supporters of the "Houston Equal Rights Ordinance" (HERO) were giving in its defense. Because Houston's mayor has vowed to continue to fight for HERO-and she has been joined by liberal voices across the nation-those of us who believe that the law is an affront to common decency must be ready to give a response. Following the video are some quotes pulled directly from the video, along with responses.


"The HERO law had a wide base of support across the country:"

-So we should all just jump on the bandwagon? Why should we believe that current popularity indicates that a law is just or good? What reasons do people have for supporting the law? Are these reasons better than those given by those who opposed the law?

"President Obama said he supported it, and a long list of companies came out in favor of it too."

-Why should we accept President Obama or the industrial complex as valid authorities concerning whether this law would be just or good for Houston?

"So what did the law do? It prohibited discrimination in housing and public accommodations, such as bathrooms, on the basis of fifteen different characteristics, including race, age, and sexual orientation, but it was gender identity that opponents had a problem with."

-Discrimination on the basis of race and age were already clearly prohibited under other federal and local laws, so those categories were just a smoke-screen for the actual purpose of this law.

"Opponents of the law claimed falsely that the bill would allow anyone of any gender to walk into any bathroom they wanted. The idea is known as the bathroom myth."

-Meyers says "falsely" and "myth" (he sounds persuasive, doesn't he?), but he does not give any proof as to why the law would not do EXACTLY what its opponents claim.

"There's also no evidence that this has ever been a problem in places that DO have these laws."

-Despite Meyers' claim, notice the analogous situation of Illinois' largest high school district, which has recently come under scrutiny for not allowing a transgender student into the girls' locker room and shower area. (See the Chicago Tribune story HERE.) If laws like HERO are passed across the nation, then lawsuits based on the prohibition of boys and men from the locker rooms and restrooms of women and girls would indeed, inevitably, become commonplace.

"Moreover, the idea that you can go into a bathroom and do anything other than use the toilet is ALREADY illegal in Houston."

-One problem with this line of argumentation is that it assumes that, as long as no mischief is occurring, gender doesn't matter in public restrooms. News-flash, Seth Meyers: if my daughter is in the public restroom, then I don't want a man walking in on her for any reason WHATSOEVER. Also, Meyers wants to claim that a person can't see anything inappropriate in the restroom anyway. However, as noted above, this issue has already reached to locker rooms and shower areas. The rationale behind this law has ALREADY resulted in government officials attempting to force a situation in which boys and girls would change clothes or shower in each others' presence. Furthermore: Meyers wants to say that the laws already on the books are sufficient to prevent mischief while ignoring the fact that there are laws already on the books that prevent true discrimination. His views are self-contradictory on a number of levels.

After the above quote, the rest of Seth Meyers' video is just a series of ridiculous ad hominem attacks.