My toilet at home and the bathrooms in public are inanimate objects and don’t care who uses them. The people whom you share the facilities may care, and you need to be prepared for ridicule, confusion, and possibly aggression. A law will not prevent you from whispers, stares, or punches and a hate crime is a serious offense. As the master of your destiny, you must be strong enough to ignore the sneers and be ready to protect yourself at all times. Danger is everywhere and a public bathroom is no exception.
In 2011 a transgender teen was severely beaten in McDonald’s bathroom and it was all captured on film. This story propelled the notion that a legal stance must be voiced to protect other trans persons. Then in 2016 President Barack Obama, told the nation that we will accept the gender of a person’s sense of self in all bathrooms, and linking this passion to school funding. But standing on the pulpit saying acceptance is legal is a very different approach then severely punishing the perpetrator and chastizing the heinous act in the forum of public opinion. The age old chicken or egg question comes to mind because for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
By outwardly declaring that you have legal standing to use whichever bathroom you want based on personal emotions, what’s to stop bad people from abusing the law for their benefit? Almost immediately after the passage of legislation, some pervert in Seattle pushed the boundary because the law says he can be in the bathroom of his chosen gender identity. A simpler, but equally comparable situation arises in the mythology of our comics. Would the Joker exist without the Batman, or would Lex Luthor be truly evil without Superman?
Now, President Donald Trump is recinding the stipulations enacted by President Obama and the country is acting like something is being taken away. A law does not protect you from a person wishing to do harm any more than the yellow lines stop the car from swerving into your lane; my 7 year old niece knows that, she’s asked. Bottom line, just pee where you feel comfortable and know that even I’ve clicked my way into the girls bathroom while in heels to gossip with my girlfriends. Daddies & Mommies can take their kids into the lavatory of their choice because guardianship doesn’t stop at the bathroom, and evil never rests.
