Thursday, April 21, 2016
Political Mayhem Thursday: The Bathroom Terror
A few years ago, one might think that the biggest political issue in America was the terrifying specter of a Christian baker having to make a cake for a gay couple. While we are still a little obsessed with gays and cakes, we seem to have largely moved on to the latest horror: the chance that we might share a bathroom with a transgendered person.
Really?
What, exactly, do you think will happen? The fear, I suppose, is that the transgendered person has transitioned into the gender they are attracted to-- that is, that they change sex to become gay, and then for some reason will foist homosexual assaults on other bathroom patrons. I suppose that might happen, but it seems like a pretty rare thing. Also, there is a fear that men will cross-dress just to gain entrance to the women's bathroom, which also seems like a very remote chance. After all, that tactic isn't going to work unless the offender and the victim are in the bathroom alone, and if that is true, why cross-dress?
If you don't want to go to the bathroom with people who are sexually attracted to your sex, well... you are already out of luck. Gay men use the men's room and lesbians use the women's room. That's just the way it is, and it won't change. We all seem to be doing just fine.
I travel quite a bit, and since my home airport is MSP I often travel past the spot where the "Larry Craig Bathroom" used to be (it has since been removed). For those who have forgotten, Idaho Senator Larry Craig was caught there cruising for sex in 2007. It's a weird story, and always makes me feel a little uncomfortable using MSP's bathrooms. However, what I'm scared of (I guess) is Senators, and there is a factual basis for my fear-- unlike the strange bathroom fears regarding transgendered people.
Meanwhile, here are some things that are probably more worth worrying about, none of which have been effectively addressed yet by our governments:
-- Climate change
-- ISIS
-- Domestic terrorism
-- A mortgage crisis relapse
-- Actual sexual assaults on children (of which there are hundreds per week in this country)
-- The rise in violent crime in many cities
-- The epidemic of opioid abuse, which kills more people in one year (16,000+) than 5 World Trade Center attacks and a Titanic sinking.
Really?
What, exactly, do you think will happen? The fear, I suppose, is that the transgendered person has transitioned into the gender they are attracted to-- that is, that they change sex to become gay, and then for some reason will foist homosexual assaults on other bathroom patrons. I suppose that might happen, but it seems like a pretty rare thing. Also, there is a fear that men will cross-dress just to gain entrance to the women's bathroom, which also seems like a very remote chance. After all, that tactic isn't going to work unless the offender and the victim are in the bathroom alone, and if that is true, why cross-dress?
If you don't want to go to the bathroom with people who are sexually attracted to your sex, well... you are already out of luck. Gay men use the men's room and lesbians use the women's room. That's just the way it is, and it won't change. We all seem to be doing just fine.
I travel quite a bit, and since my home airport is MSP I often travel past the spot where the "Larry Craig Bathroom" used to be (it has since been removed). For those who have forgotten, Idaho Senator Larry Craig was caught there cruising for sex in 2007. It's a weird story, and always makes me feel a little uncomfortable using MSP's bathrooms. However, what I'm scared of (I guess) is Senators, and there is a factual basis for my fear-- unlike the strange bathroom fears regarding transgendered people.
Meanwhile, here are some things that are probably more worth worrying about, none of which have been effectively addressed yet by our governments:
-- Climate change
-- ISIS
-- Domestic terrorism
-- A mortgage crisis relapse
-- Actual sexual assaults on children (of which there are hundreds per week in this country)
-- The rise in violent crime in many cities
-- The epidemic of opioid abuse, which kills more people in one year (16,000+) than 5 World Trade Center attacks and a Titanic sinking.
Comments:
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In TV shows and movies it occurs rather often, but apparently rarely in reality.
# posted by 
: 5:49 AM
: 5:49 AM
Hmmm, what exactly do I think they will do? Walk into the women's bathroom, wait in line for an open stall like everyone else, go in and use it, exit and hopefully wash their hands, check their hair and make up in the mirror and leave...
Yes, there are bigger concerns in the world and unfortunately the legislature in my State decided to make this awful discriminatory stand. And as much as we would like to vote these horrible people out of office, they have gerrymandered us so severely that it is virtually impossible. Many of these despicable people are running for re-election unopposed. The good news is we can get rid of the Governor in November.
Yes, there are bigger concerns in the world and unfortunately the legislature in my State decided to make this awful discriminatory stand. And as much as we would like to vote these horrible people out of office, they have gerrymandered us so severely that it is virtually impossible. Many of these despicable people are running for re-election unopposed. The good news is we can get rid of the Governor in November.
Climate Change at the top of the list of real problems our government could be solving but is not. Nice.
This morning at the gym, watching "Morning Joe," I saw a great discussion involving Ted Cruz and Donald Trump's respective positions on how to reduce our enormous prison population.
Then later, when I was driving, I turned on NPR, and there were the candidates talking about student loan debt.
This evening, when I stopped in a local restaurant, CNN was on the TV, doing a piece on the presidential candidates' views on helping solve the migrant crisis.
Kidding! In each of these instances today, the topic was this: candidates sparring over transgender bathrooms.
The issue represents so much that is ugly: bullying (enacting state laws to preempt municipal ordinances that do good things like raise the minimum wage or implement gun safety measures). Divisiveness (one group throwing its political weight around, like the ones behind the law that would have made the Christian Bible the official state book of Tennessee). Trivializing a process--choosing the leader of the free world!--that instead should be thoughtful and responsible.
Ok! Rant over (whew). And thank you, Razor and Razorites, for your always intelligent discourse about things that matter.
Then later, when I was driving, I turned on NPR, and there were the candidates talking about student loan debt.
This evening, when I stopped in a local restaurant, CNN was on the TV, doing a piece on the presidential candidates' views on helping solve the migrant crisis.
Kidding! In each of these instances today, the topic was this: candidates sparring over transgender bathrooms.
The issue represents so much that is ugly: bullying (enacting state laws to preempt municipal ordinances that do good things like raise the minimum wage or implement gun safety measures). Divisiveness (one group throwing its political weight around, like the ones behind the law that would have made the Christian Bible the official state book of Tennessee). Trivializing a process--choosing the leader of the free world!--that instead should be thoughtful and responsible.
Ok! Rant over (whew). And thank you, Razor and Razorites, for your always intelligent discourse about things that matter.
# posted by : 6:09 PM
: 6:09 PM
"However, what I'm scared of (I guess) is Senators, and there is a factual basis for my fear-- unlike the strange bathroom fears regarding transgendered people."... This made me laugh!!
My two comments on this inane legislation:
1. Where was the law before this saying you couldn't use whatever bathroom you wanted? The last time I checked, a man going into the women's bathroom wasn't a crime, just frowned upon.
2. How do they expect to enforce such a law? Require people to carry their birth certificates around with them at all times in case they need to take a growler in a public toilet?
It's a solution in search of an imaginary problem, from a party with plenty of actual problems and few actual solutions. In the words of Immortan Joe, "MEDIOCRE!"
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1. Where was the law before this saying you couldn't use whatever bathroom you wanted? The last time I checked, a man going into the women's bathroom wasn't a crime, just frowned upon.
2. How do they expect to enforce such a law? Require people to carry their birth certificates around with them at all times in case they need to take a growler in a public toilet?
It's a solution in search of an imaginary problem, from a party with plenty of actual problems and few actual solutions. In the words of Immortan Joe, "MEDIOCRE!"
# posted by : 2:43 AM
: 2:43 AM << Home
