An interim director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a major proponent of laws protecting gender identity, has resigned after her daughters were frightened by several transgendered men who came into the ladies room they were using at the time.Although the mainstream media has utterly ignored this story, LifeSiteNews and a few other outlets are reporting on the resignation of Maya Dillard Smith, interim director of the Georgia chapter of the ACLU, over the organization’s involvement in the controversial transgender bathroom debate.
“I have shared my personal experience of having taken my elementary school age daughters into a women’s restroom when shortly after three transgender young adults, over six feet [tall] with deep voices, entered,” Dillard Smith said.
“My children were visibly frightened, concerned about their safety and left asking lots of questions for which I, like many parents, was ill-prepared to answer,” she continued.
In a statement, she said that the ACLU has become “a special interest organization that promotes not all, but certain progressive rights.”
The “hierarchy of rights” the ACLU chooses to defend or ignore, she wrote, is “based on who is funding the organization’s lobbying activities.” She did not elaborate further.
Dillard Smith, who describes herself as “progressive” and “unapologetically black” says she just can’t go along with the ACLU’s transgender legal agenda which includes suing North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory for signed a law requiring individuals to use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex.
Dillard Smith says that the ACLU’s opposition to the bill, which essentially leaves restroom policy up to business owners, proves that her legal philosophy and that of the ACLU no longer align.
“I found myself principally and philosophically unaligned with the organization,” Dillard Smith said. “I believe there are solutions that can provide accommodations for transgender people and balance the need to ensure women and girls are safe from those who might have malicious intent,” she said.
In response, Dillard Smith started a new website, Finding Middle Ground, which is providing the public with a “safe space” to share their views of the transgender bathroom issue without fear of being called a bigot or hater.
Thus far, the ACLU has made no comment about Dillard Smith’s departure and has merely posted a job announcement to replace her.