Apparently embarrassed that she’s running out of time to make good on her campaign promise to battle President Barack Obama from Little Rock, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today published an editorial in the Hill attacking the president over bathroom access for transgender people.
In May, the Obama administration issued guidance, relying on federal court precedent, saying that schools must allow students to use restrooms that match their gender identity.
Arkansas and nine other states are suing over the guidance. Rutledge in her editorial characterizes the letters to school districts from the federal Department of Education explaining the guidance as “bullying and threatening.” She argues, without evidence, that the protections for transgender people will inevitably lead to peeping, bullying, sexual predators, sexual harassment, and sexual assault.
Rutledge says that transgender students currently have no problems in Arkansas schools.
“The heartbreaking thing is that it seems as if transgendered [sic] students are being used as pawns by this administration to further a broader political and legal agenda,” Rutledge writes. Perhaps it would mend her heart a bit to try talking to some of these students, and see what they think.