Why is accepting transgenders bad and why boycott Target over it?

[h8stylist]

I know this issue has been brought up in the past. However, the most recent thread on opinions of the subject is 2months old since the last response, and I would like to have an understanding as to why this is such a big deal. Two days ago there was a shareholders meeting and a conservative group brought the subject up to the CEO of Target looking to see if he had a sudden change of heart on his stance. His response was that he wanted Target to be a welcome and safe place for all customers. Sounds like a reasonable and rational response. However, these are the article titles over this:

"Target CEO Gets Terrible News… Needs to Start Looking for New Job"
"TARGET SHAREHOLDERS CONFRONT CEO ON TRANSGENDER BATHROOMS 'Doesn't seem to get that he has offended the sensibilities of millions' "
"Target CEO takes heat from shareholders about transgender bathroom policy"

Then there is this from the Chicago Tribune:
"Bathrooms a topic at Target's shareholders' meeting"

Which of these subjects seems to cover the topic, and which seems to include a title that is built to generate unnecessary hatred? The whole idea seems simple to me. A person goes through their life as a certain gender, but does not have the ability, or understanding to cope with questions they have until later in life. Not everyone questions whether they are really a male or female. However there is a small part of the population that does (my sister is included in this group). I never had any idea growing up that my sister had any questions about who she was. It wasn't until she was about 30 that she made her decision that she was not the gender she was born as. She spent a lot of time in therapy trying to understand and cope with her feelings as an adult. However, she just felt more comfortable as the opposite sex.

Making the transition was not easy for her as she had friends, family, and coworkers at a high-level professional job that only knew her as the person they had always known her as. Every time we went out publicly, she felt that others were constantly watching, and judging her. Some family members accepted her, some did not, and most didn't understand.

Why would someone choose a path of scrutiny, a path where they felt alone due to the relationships they had lost? A path that is far from being a common path that is walked by others and might have been able to show her the acceptance that she had known from others as her original gender.

So this person that is uncomfortable in public, and does their best to smile and be polite with others cannot be allowed to be comfortable in a place where we feel vulnerable?

The common thought I see expressed as an opposition to this thought is that it will allow predators to do bad things in bad places. I understand this, and I also counter that thought with 'If you are concerned about your childs safety, why are you allowing them to go to the bathroom alone right now?'. Predators do not adhere to common social practices. They typically do not simply target the opposite sex (http://abc7chicago.com/news/photos-o...hroom/1121728/). They would not have any fear about targeting someone regardless of bathroom policies. In the past week, there was a predator that tried to grab a 13 year old in the middle of a supermarket with her mother right next to her ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zx3IXTVUE4 ).

Very few abductions or assaults happen in the bathroom, and if they do, they are carried out by the same sex (male/male and female/female). So I ask, what is the rational thought process behind being against a transgender, who is already self-conscious about how others percieve them, being in the bathroom of the gender they identify as?

[Tziva]

We don't allow discussion of gender identity/transgender here.