Why have sections of the US Christian Right apparently lost all rationality when it comes to transgender child health and safety at school? I've been monitoring the issue of transgender rights in this context over the last few months and some of the outbursts have been either amusing or alarming. One target (sic) has been Target Stores, which announced its intention to defy the ridiculous North Carolina 'sumptuary laws' that prevent transwomen and transmen from using gender appropriate toilets and changing rooms. Want a list? Well... Anita Staver, a fundamentalist lawyer at Virginia's anti-LGBT "Liberty Counsel", states that she doesn't feel 'safe' in public toilets knowing that transwomen will be in there, as well they should. Therefore, she stated that she felt entitled to carry a pistol in that context and encourages other anti-transgender women to do so, even though she's admitted that there is no factual basis to fearmongering about transwomen as 'sexual predators.' That's right, no criminal justice statistics bear out this deliberate mendacity. In other words, Staver may be precipitating a tragedy in the making. In Texas, Denton's Sheriff candidate Tracy Murphee (a cismale) threatened to resort to violence against any identifiable transperson who uses a public toilet while his child is in there. Right, so this ignorant transphobic thug is threateningviolenceagainst transpeople and he's standing for public office within the Deep South? As a law enforcement "professional?" Although those are the more serious aspects of this situation, there are some more unintentionally bizarre aspects to the steps that the US Christian Right wants to take in defence of transphobia. Take oddball Joseph Martone, in Colorado Springs. Martone (a straight cismale) wears a blonde wig and a skirt and complete with salt and pepper beard, Martone (54) routinely enters Target women's restrooms to make a nuisance of himself. Surprisingly, he hasn't been thrown out of the department store chain outlets yet. I would reproduce the picture, but it's not a pretty sight. Or, take Rick Wiles, a fundamentalist radio host at "TruNews" (sic). Wiles has threatened to publically urinate in Target stores in protest against the department store chain's inclusive ablutionary policy. Oh, now they've flunked toilet training? One hopes that US jurisdictions have public nuisance laws against urination or defecation in public places. Earlier, Wiles had raved on his media outlet that transgender inclusive toilets would "start a nuclear war!" Presumably, this will occur through the same mechanism that Anne Graham Lotz has also cited when she remarked that transgender toilet and changing room use had led to the 9/11 tragedy in New York in 2001, through some hitherto unknown time warp. And defenders of this sorry business claim the opponents of transgender inclusion exemplify 'rationality' and 'common sense?' Amusing or frightening though some of the above might be, what explains this display of bargain basement histrionics and anti-transgender exhibitionism? It's anxiety. Anxiety arises in response to social change amongst conservative Christians, who inhabit a retrospective utopian yesterday of optimal economic growth, rigid gender roles, compulsory heterosexuality and cisgender identity, which never really existed for all inhabitants of the western world. Any recognition of lesbian and gay marriage equality, gender-appropriate ablutionary facilities for transpeople, or anything else that doesn't fit this heavily airbrushed and romanticised view of the past is denounced in terms that escalate in shrillness and eccentricity of performance or free association. Apparently, the simple act of using a public convenience will bring on the mythological Christian apocalypse. Who knew? Recommended: Nico Lang: "Liberty Counsel Admits Bathroom Myth is a Lie"Advocate:04.05.2016:http://www. advocate.com/business/2016/5/ 04/liberty-counsel-leader- admits-bathroom-predator-myth Jon Mark: "Denton's GOP Nominee for Sheriff Will Put Transgender Bathroom Users in Hospital"Inquisitr:24.04.2016:http://www. inquisitr.com/3029517/dentons- gop-nominee-for-county- sheriff-will-put-transgender- bathroom-users-in-hospital/ Debbie Kelley: "Colorado Springs man dons wig to protest transgender Target rule, but retailer not alone in equalising facilities"Colorado Springs Gazette: 10.05.2016:http://gazette. com/colorado-springs-man-dons- wig-to-protest-target- transgender-rule-but-retailer- not-alone-in-equalizing- facilities/article/1575800 Nick Duffy: "Pastor threatens to pee on the floor of his local Target to protest transgender policy"Pinknews: 29.04.2016:http://www. pinknews.co.uk/2016/04/29/ pastor-threatens-to-pee-on- the-floor-of-his-local-target- to-protest-transgender-policy/ Nick Duffy: "Radio host claims that trans women using female toilets "will lead to nuclear war"Pinknews:29.04.2016:http://www. pinknews.co.uk/2016/04/29/ radio-host-claims-trans-women- using-female-toilets-will- lead-to-nuclear-war/ Nick Duffy: "Pastor Anne Graham: God let 9/11 happen because of transgender people in bathrooms" Pinknews: 13.05.2016:http://www. pinknews.co.uk/2016/05/13/ pastor-anne-graham-god-let- 911-happen-because-of- transgender-people-in- bathrooms/ Craig Young - 23rd May 2016