To the Editor:
Last week I read a disturbing article in the Martha’s Vineyard Times (June 2, “Tisbury Police arrest Maine man for filming in dressing room”) about a (presumably) heterosexual man who was vacationing on the Vineyard with his wife and three daughters. He was arrested for “unlawful sexual surveillance” after a woman in a changing room said she noticed his phone under the curtain, allegedly filming her.
I am writing this letter not so much to comment on this particular incident, as there are legal proceedings underway, and this man is presumed innocent until proven guilty as dictated by our legal system. What I do wish to comment on is the recent trend to blame the “others.”
You know, all those groups that the presumed Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States has pointed out — the Mexicans, the Muslims, the Chinese. He has a name for everyone.
But my main point of contention is about the absurdity of the national discussion about transgender bathroom laws, and the current hysteria surrounding it.
Massachusetts had the common sense to allow trans people to use the bathroom of their identity, but wasted days debating it in the legislature. Since that issue has been resolved, and since there has never been a case of a true transgendered person assaulting anyone in a bathroom in North America, we can now focus on a real threat. That obviously is the heterosexual male (born that way and staying that way). Now, again I am not in any way stating that this individual is guilty, or even presumed guilty, but I do know that if the person that were accused of this crime were Brazilian, Mexican, Muslim, or a transgender person, the bigots, racists, and homophobes here would be online calling for his head to be served up on a platter.
My point here is that predatory crimes are committed by all sorts of people.
Criminals come in all colors, ethnicities, economic and social classes, and of course sexual preferences and identities.
I am certain there are many bathroom crimes committed by all these categories of people. But there are laws on the books in some states that seek to prevent one group of people in certain bathrooms. That would be transgender people, who, as far as I can tell, have never committed the kind of crime we fear they will.
Don Keller
Vineyard Haven
