I am very concerned about (Secretary of Education) Ms. DeVos' recent lack of judgement regarding civil liberties for all of our citizens including protection of transgender students in schools. Whether you and I agree or not if there are more than 2 sexes, a US citizen is a US citizen and is entitled to the same rights as every other citizen. Ms. DeVos is not lawfully upholding her oath as Secretary of Education in not standing up for these citizens.
In conjunction with this glaring error, she has begun walking back policies on rape and sexual assault on college campuses. If she chooses to listen to men's grievance and concern groups, that's fine--hearing people out is part of the job. But to allow protections against victims to wane as a policy is subjecting women to bodily harm.
If a man grabs my butt in a bar as I walk by, that's assault. It's not flirting, it's not playful contact, it's not 'boys being boys'. There is a persistent culture of the latter. Ms. DeVos' attitudes will continue to allow it. I am also from West Michigan. I have seen her involvement in the area. She relies on religious doctrine and cites poor morals as a reason for a multitude of punishments. Akin to 'if she wasn't dressed that way, she wouldn't have a problem'. Let me be clear--poor morals is never, NEVER, justification for any kind of earthly punishment. This is not a way to craft public policy. Any woman deserves the same protections as any other citizen. The mini-skirted ones don't get less. Ms. DeVos' recent actions will allow a she-was-asking-for-it attitude to continue .
I will not stand by and allow her religious views of demoralized women to affect public policy. While men's groups have stories of men wrongly accused there is a much more longstanding history of blaming and punishing the victims of assault. We need to work twice as hard to counter that history; Ms. DeVos is walking us back to half. Focusing her efforts on a small percentage of men rather than as a part of the large percentage of valid criminal assaults is not halting an over swing of the pendulum. It stops it from swinging toward justice altogether, and actually pushes it back.
