title:  INSANE: Southern City Passes Law To Jail Transgender People For Using The Bathroom
text: Conservatives in an Alabama town have decided to give in to right-wing hysteria about transgender people using public bathrooms, and gone even further than other discriminatory laws. The city of Oxford s city council passed a law that would allow police to imprison transgender people who don t use the right bathroom, in their eyes.The law would allow Oxford police to put those who violate the ordinance in jail for up to six months.City attorney Ron Allen told CNN the law was passed because some residents panicked after retailer Target announced that it would be open minded and allow transgender employees and customers to use the restroom for the gender they identify with.As if the law itself isn t absurd enough, here is the procedure required for police to arrest someone under it:Oxford Police Chief Bill Partridge did not return a CNN call for comment. But he told CNN affiliate WBRC the law would be enforced just like any other for a misdemeanor: A person would have to call police to complain, and when police arrive the officer would have to witness the crime.After that, Partridge said, the person who called in the complaint would have to sign a warrant.So-called  bathroom bills  have come along as Republicans need more boogeymen in order to convince religious right conservatives to vote for them as LGBT rights have become more and more mainstream in America, particularly after the Supreme Court made same sex marriage legal in the entire country.The laws rely on the belief that allowing transgender people the right to use the bathroom that  predators  would take advantage of the legal system. In reality, data shows that the claim that this would be used to assist predators to be completely false, and in fact the linkage being promoted by the right is just more bigotry and fearmongering.Conservative lawmakers in the south have begun feeling a major backlash, as businesses, entertainers, and other institutions have begun to pull out of doing commerce in states like North Carolina. Corporate America has discovered that associating with the modern descendant of Jim Crow laws is a bad brand image, and not something they want to be a part of.As a result, conservative Republicans in the south have seen their natural allies   big business   publicly condemn them and hurt the perception of anti-transgender rights states as business friendly.The market is deciding.Featured image via Flickr