I’m still trying to get my head around this transgender
bathroom thing. I don’t know which side of the fence I’m on, or supposed to be
on, or if there needs to be a fence.
I was raised, as most of us were, with the idea that there
were male and female bathrooms. That seems perfectly normal. We were all likely
raised with the bathrooms in our homes being unisex, because they had doors. I
do remember when I was in radio interviewing a male celebrity in his hotel room.
He excused himself after we were finished, to use the bathroom. He peed, but did
not close the door. OK, maybe that’s what went on in his house. I’ll just say
that whenever there is a door of any kind, I take advantage of it (a little TMI
there for you).
Anyway, so now we have a state that is in trouble for a new
law saying transgender people have to use the bathroom according to the gender
on their birth certificate. And a decree from the Obama administration saying
transgenders have to be allowed to use the bathroom of their self-identity in
schools. I know this is an issue for transgenders, but does it really require a
decree? Can’t the schools figure out the logistics?
I must confess I have never gone into a general-use male
bathroom in a public place and found myself saying, “That’s a transgender, what
is SHE doing here?” Maybe I was just never in a bathroom with a transgender.
More likely, if there was one, she, or should I say he, was just good at
gender-appropriate dress and stuff, and I didn’t notice. I was busy with other
things.
What is the core fear here? Could it be that a woman will
self-identity as a man, or vice-versa, in order to go into the opposite sex’s
bathroom to stare at them? How often does THAT happen? How do we know that gay men
or women don’t do that right now? Well, usually that is not their priority either,
in the bathroom.
All that said, does this whole thing need to be taken down
to the school level? Do children have those self-identification skills? Will
they be honest? How are the cisgender, or gender-of-birth kids, supposed to
react to it, or are we just trying to raise them not to care?
I will say this, though. If you are happy with the gender
you were born into, you are fortunate. This is something you don’t have to sort
out for yourself. You can concentrate on other things. If you are attracted to
the opposite sex, that is also something you don’t have to spend too much time
figuring out, you are also lucky. You’re in with the in crowd.
As I get older I find myself trying not to judge others for
self–identity or sexual preference. There, but for the grace of God, genetics,
or wiring, go I. But do we need all this legislation, or just a dose of awareness
and understanding?
