Georgia ACLU director resigns after daughters 'visibly frightened' by bathroom incident with transgender women

Maya Dillard Smith stepped down from her position as head of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday, June 2 as she revealed a bathroom incident that left her daughters "visibly frightened" by transgender women.

Dillard Smith shared a previous experience which she said placed her in the middle of the transgender bathroom controversy. The transgender bathroom bill, which was endorsed by President Barack Obama in May, allows transgender individuals to use bathrooms according to their chosen gender identity rather than their biological sex.

Back in Oakland, California, Dillard Smith recalled how three transgender women entered a restroom where she and her daughters were in and described the transgender women as "all over six feet tall, all with really deep voices, all were obviously men."

"My kids were visibly frightened. I was scared. And I was ill-prepared to answer their questions," Dillard Smith told The Kelly File (via Fox News).

She claimed that she started researching and actively asking questions about the issue after the incident. The Democrat shared that she was originally thrilled when the organization invited her to head Georgia which she referred to as a "state that I think has enormous potential to advance civil liberties and civil rights in the American south."

However, she found herself at the opposing end of the transgender controversy which the ACLU is known to actively endorse.

She explained, "It became evident to me that ACLU and myself were simply principally and philosophically unaligned on a number of issues."

Dillard-Smith revealed that her resignation was prompted by the organization's hostile reaction to critiques and questions she raised about the transgender policy.

"There are real concerns about the safety of women and girls in regards to this bathroom debate," she told AJC. "It seems to me that instead of stifling the dialogue, we want to encourage a robust debate to come up with an effective solution."

Dillard Smith uploaded a video on YouTube that endorsed a website she created called "Finding Middle Ground," described as a safe place for discussing the transgender debate.