Transgender bathroom debate: 'OK for Ivanka Trump to share bathroom with Jesse Jackson and Dennis Rodman?' - Church sign asks Donald Trump
A controversial church sign in Harlem, New York raised a question on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who expressed support for the transgender bathroom policy.
"Should Jesse Jackson and Dennis Rodman go into same bathroom with Chelsea Clinton, Malia and Sasha Obama and Ivanka Trump?" read the marquee sign of ATLAH World Missionary Church last week.
Pastor James David Manning, the 69-year-old chief pastor of the church in Harlem, revealed that the sign post came about in reaction to what the Republican presidential hopeful said on NBC's "Today Show" in April.
"When Mr. Trump said Bruce Jenner can go into any bathroom, I can't imagine why he would discriminate against Dennis Rodman," said Pastor Manning on his online series "The Manning Report" posted July 27 on YouTube.
"I'm just pointing up what the man said," he went on. "I'm just telling you what's going on in America today. And I am asking a question."
The pastor referred to President Barack Obama's transgender bathroom policy that mandates all American public schools to allow students to use the bathroom based on their gender identification rather than their biological sex as "sodomy." He also accused politicians who support the policy as only doing so for the sake of popularity.
The 70-year-old business mogul turned presidential hopeful expressed his support for the transgender community during a live town hall at TODAY Plaza in April.
"If Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and want to use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?" asked host Matt Lauer.
"That is correct," answered Trump.
Trump reiterated his support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community during his nomination acceptance speech last month in Cleveland, Ohio. The former host of "The Apprentice" vowed to protect all LGBT citizens, which became the target of the deadliest mass shooting tragedy in the U.S., from hate-driven violence.