A disturbing battle is being waged in the legislatures of several states, and in the forum of public opinion. States like North Carolina and Tennessee have taken the spotlight in recent weeks over controversial bills that their legislators have either passed, or are trying to pass. These measures are primarily concerned with transgender people; those who feel their gender identity doesn’t match the role they were assigned at birth.

The biggest issue at hand is bathrooms. Should trans-men and trans-women be allowed to use public restrooms aligning with their chosen gender identity, or should they be forced to use the restrooms matching their gender-at-birth? The primary argument from supporters of the bills is one of safety; that somehow allowing trans people to use public restrooms matching their gender identity puts people at risk of sexual assault.

There is no small irony in small-government conservatives championing a bill that not only tells citizens which bathroom they can use, but also disallows cities from creating anti-discrimination ordinances and reduces the legal options for people subject to discrimination. The North Carolina House Bill 2 was created, deliberated and passed during a special session of the state’s legislature that lasted only a single day in response to a city ordinance passed in Charlotte, NC that would have allowed transgender individuals to use the restroom matching their identity as well as prevented businesses from discriminating against LGBT people.

The assertion that allowing transgender individuals to use bathrooms matching their gender increases the risk of assault is not only asinine on a number of levels, but the rhetoric behind the so-called Bathroom Bills is dangerously dehumanizing to trans people. At a basic level, the arguments in favor of the bill and others like it are dismissive of the issues that transgendered people face, and of transgendered people entirely.

Proponents commonly drum up fear about women and young girls being at increased danger of assault or predation without the bans. They also continually refer to these predators as being men, refusing to acknowledge trans-women as true women and implying that many only dress as women to fulfill a sexual fantasy. In April, 2016, conservative website Breitbart even ran a story, purportedly about a man who claimed to be transgender when caught filming women in a public bathroom. Except that the story was actually three years old, and the man in question never identified himself as transgender. Ultimately, trying to frame the laws around bathroom safety renders them completely redundant; filming people against their will and sexual assault are already crimes under the law, and the .3% of the US population that identify as transgender aren’t any more likely to break those laws than cisgendered Americans. Ultimately, the proponents of the law reveal their true motives in their lack of understanding. The safety of women and children is being used as a smokescreen to obfuscate the true aim of curbing LGBT rights.

The rhetoric behind these arguments shows the true beliefs of its proponents in their lack of understanding. The lawmakers behind the bill do not recognize the gender identity of trans people, and they do not believe LGBT Americans deserve the equal protection and status afforded to them by the Constitution. Accepting these laws, and the rhetoric around them, is a dangerous path for civil liberties in the United States. Transgendered Americans are already subject to discrimination, harassment and violence all over the country. 41% of Americans who identify as transgender have attempted suicide, vastly exceeding the 4.6% average for the whole population of the US.

Allowing these discriminatory laws, and the mindset behind them, to stand only deepens the problem for transgender Americans. Demonizing a whole group, painting them as potential rapists and criminals, will only fan the flames of the fear and hatred that created the 41% suicide attempt rate, all the while cutting off legal protections and options for legal recourse.

Fortunately, the situation isn’t entirely gloomy. People across the country have expressed outrage at the North Carolina bill, and many businesses and high-profile individuals have also begun to apply pressure against the state through economic means. HB2 will soon face legal challenges, and the state’s own Attorney General Roy Cooper has even stated he won’t defend the bill against them.

The struggle for equality in America will continue, and the decisions made during the coming months will almost certainly be milestone’s in the nation’s history.