To the editor:
Rules are needed with regard to guns, gender identity, and voting. They should be respectful of the Constitution and be based on the best in scientific research.
Credible scientific research can tell us what specific gun control rules actually protect the rights of other people, versus feel-good rules that are put into place based on a prejudice against gun owners.
Prejudice against the transgender community is also a problem. Yet, just as there need to be rules regarding guns, there need to be rules, backed by science, for people that seek a sex change operation, especially when they are minors.
Rules need to exist to protect minors from unscrupulous people who may rush to label someone as needing the surgery simply because they are an effeminate boy or a tomgirl.
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Another class of citizens who are entitled to freedom and equality are American voters.
Voter ID rules may indeed be necessary to have legitimate elections, but they are often written in such a way as to unfairly burden people of color and people who are not wealthy or who may have mobility challenges.
Legitimate elections also require a choice. When political minorities cannot be that choice because of unnecessarily burdensome ballot access rules or rules governing publicly funded debates, it is eerily similar to the days when several States excluded religious minorities from voting and holding office.
This is not a call for anarchy or to transform the Constitution into a suicide pact. Rules need to exist to protect public safety, avoid chaos, and ensure that all Americans are free and equal to make these types of deeply personal decisions.
I call upon the legislators, no matter their political affiliation, to rely more on credible scientific research and to oppose rules that are based on a particular prejudice.
Edward TJ Brown
Parkers Prairie, MN
The Trust Project
