20,000 Houstonion's placed under permanent house arrest without charges this morning

Transgender persons in Houston Texas this morning have three options if they choose to leave their home and face the unavoidable human need to relieve themselves while out, whether at their workplace, a public shopping mall, a church or sporting event. The options now are:

Option 1: Get immediately assaulted. This is called "Using the Mens Room" by cis-gendered people.

Option 2: Get jailed for public indecency, and then assaulted. "Using the Ladies Room."

Option 3: Get jailed for public indecency and creating a sanitary nuisance, and then assaulted. "Peeing Behind a Bush" in civil vernacular.

For losing it and peeing yourself, see Option 3.

The figure of 20,000 affected people is based on the minimum estimate of .3 percent of greater Houston's 6.3 million population who identify as transgender. The number is likely much higher.
http://www.livescience.com/50635-bruce-jenner-transgender-prevalence.html

This effective mass house arrest was done extrajudicially, without due process of law. A deprivation of liberty expressly prohibited by the Fifth Amendment.

This due to the repeal of  HERO by Proposition 1, a previously passed bill which merely brought Houston in line with the same protections of basic human rights already extended by every other major city in America, prohibiting discrimation in employment and public resources on the basis of sexual orientation or gender expression. Evangelical right wing republications turned out in droves, all whipped up by their pastors and Fox News to believe the bill was designed to permit male pedophiles to share bathroom stalls with their 7 year old daughters by simply slipping on a sun dress.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/04/houston-decided-it-had-a-problem-its-lgbt-nondiscrimination-law/

Now, make no mistake. The right KNOW this is illogical. This was a ploy to scare church moms into voting the bill down, by making them believe that the only thing stopping criminals from raping young females in public bathrooms is that little sign on the door that says “Ladies.”

Their ACTUAL logic is much scarier, and has much further reaching implications. The right has always classified homosexuality as fundamentally predatory. They have always accused gay men and women of seeking to seduce, drug, groom and rape godfearing straight folks, above all kids. http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-gay-documentary-gays-grooming-kids-public-schools

The cultural segregation of men and women in locker rooms and public facilities is largely an American obsession.  Go to a nude beach in Spain, or a public sauna in Finland or Japan. The recent hysteria proves the point.  It’s about sexuality, people – specifically fear of sexuality – and not mainly about privacy.  But here’s the rub.

The Right have proven themselves willing to strip an entire group of citizens of their basic human rights;  transfolk – a population by the way far, far more likely to be the victims of sexual assault and violence than perpetrators (most Male to Female transsexuals have already voluntarily undergone the same chemical castration to which convicted sex offenders are still subjected in many states). They justify this solely because such people may feel sexual attraction toward whoever is doing her business in the next bathroom stall.  Can gays or lesbians be far behind?  The Right knows lesbians are attracted to women, and believes they go after young girls. They have said so, publically and for decades. Ditto for gay men and little boys.  Gay guys are already beaten up in men’s rooms.  How long before it’s a cop doing it instead of a trucker? How long before a law is passed prohibiting lesbian women from using the ladies bathroom?  That, to the Right Wing mind, is the more compelling logic.

We can no longer afford to pick our battles, to make some gains in exchange for compromise. Either rights are universal or they are no rights at all. Enough is enough.