The other day my radio somehow got on some right wing oriented station (damned if I know how that happened) and I heard a talk show guy going on about what he called inequality of rights. He was talking about the North Carolina restroom law (which ALSO kills any right to sue under state law for employment discrimination of ANY kind, as well as some other things; [l mt'it isn't just about TG people and public restrooms, it's a disavowal of most all equal rights) and why it's so wonderful, and the inequality imposed on some "poor woman" who is in a public restroom when "some guy who happens to be feeling a little feminine that day" walks in.
First off, I'm pretty healthily heterosexual. So it might seem I don't have a dog in this fight. But I'm also not trans-, homo- or any other kind of phobic, and, despite being a white, middle class (nowdays anyhow) male, I abhor discrimination, and having spent time as a long-haired hippie freak in the '60s and '70s, in many places where such people just weren't at all appreciated, I know what it's like to be crapped on, or even just treated differently, because you aren't the same as "them", 'them" bwing the majority of people.
As a purely practical matter, who the Hell cares who's in the restroom? The stalls are private, and there's effectively no difference between someone of the other sex being outside your stall but in the same room than there is between that other person being outside the door of, say, a single toilet restroom in a 7-11 that you're using. It's all anbout the typical American hangup about anything to do with sex, meaning anything that involves the area between the knees and the waist. Wake up, America, going to the bathroom has nothing to do with sex (well, for most folks, anyway).
There are places in the world, the "undeveloped" part, where the whole village's toilet is a hole in the ground right out in the open. Somehow, there aren't daily rapes occurring.
France (and other european countries) have outdoor urinals for men, more of less a 55 gallon drum full of diesel fuel with a screen maybe a foot or two above waist high around it (yes, it really stinks). At least one country, Belgium, has fully coed public restrooms. While you're standing at the urinal taking a pee, women walk in right behind you and go to the stalls. Yet these places don't have more sexual assaults or other sexually related violence or crime than we do in America. In fact, many of them, despite having such perverted and dangerous rhings as female above the waist frontal nudity on TV and in magazines and completely legal prostitution, and in some cases even legal live sex shows in bars, have a lot less of the problem. Just like, despite the "well known" horrible dangers of letting "minors" drink alcohol, which they do, they have less of an alcoholism problem than we do.
When, if ever, are Americans going to wake up and start dealing with reality rather than an invented "reality" that's ful of all kinds of unsupported, and in some cases even proven false, fears and taboos?
And when, if ever, are they oging to start being willing to let people live their own lives however they wish, as long as they aren't actually harming someone? And here's a clue. A same sex couple getting married, or a person born one sex transitioning to the other sex, does NOT hurt anyone. That transgender male or female isn't forcing anyone to have sex with him or her, or trying to make anyone else change his or her gender, so why in the Hell do so many people try to make such a big deal about it, even resorting to distortions and outright lies, like thar "feeling a little feminine that day" nonsense, to "prove" the rightness of their prejudices?
First off, I'm pretty healthily heterosexual. So it might seem I don't have a dog in this fight. But I'm also not trans-, homo- or any other kind of phobic, and, despite being a white, middle class (nowdays anyhow) male, I abhor discrimination, and having spent time as a long-haired hippie freak in the '60s and '70s, in many places where such people just weren't at all appreciated, I know what it's like to be crapped on, or even just treated differently, because you aren't the same as "them", 'them" bwing the majority of people.
As a purely practical matter, who the Hell cares who's in the restroom? The stalls are private, and there's effectively no difference between someone of the other sex being outside your stall but in the same room than there is between that other person being outside the door of, say, a single toilet restroom in a 7-11 that you're using. It's all anbout the typical American hangup about anything to do with sex, meaning anything that involves the area between the knees and the waist. Wake up, America, going to the bathroom has nothing to do with sex (well, for most folks, anyway).
There are places in the world, the "undeveloped" part, where the whole village's toilet is a hole in the ground right out in the open. Somehow, there aren't daily rapes occurring.
France (and other european countries) have outdoor urinals for men, more of less a 55 gallon drum full of diesel fuel with a screen maybe a foot or two above waist high around it (yes, it really stinks). At least one country, Belgium, has fully coed public restrooms. While you're standing at the urinal taking a pee, women walk in right behind you and go to the stalls. Yet these places don't have more sexual assaults or other sexually related violence or crime than we do in America. In fact, many of them, despite having such perverted and dangerous rhings as female above the waist frontal nudity on TV and in magazines and completely legal prostitution, and in some cases even legal live sex shows in bars, have a lot less of the problem. Just like, despite the "well known" horrible dangers of letting "minors" drink alcohol, which they do, they have less of an alcoholism problem than we do.
When, if ever, are Americans going to wake up and start dealing with reality rather than an invented "reality" that's ful of all kinds of unsupported, and in some cases even proven false, fears and taboos?
And when, if ever, are they oging to start being willing to let people live their own lives however they wish, as long as they aren't actually harming someone? And here's a clue. A same sex couple getting married, or a person born one sex transitioning to the other sex, does NOT hurt anyone. That transgender male or female isn't forcing anyone to have sex with him or her, or trying to make anyone else change his or her gender, so why in the Hell do so many people try to make such a big deal about it, even resorting to distortions and outright lies, like thar "feeling a little feminine that day" nonsense, to "prove" the rightness of their prejudices?
First the law isn't just about bathrooms. It also allows 14 year old boys to shower with 14 year old girls in school. I have a granddaughter just starting school. I do have a dog in this fight.
Here's an article about the hidden parts of the law that they tacked on thinking that if people thought it was just about bathrooms it would be a slam dunk to pass.
Not Just About Bathrooms
Not Just About Bathrooms
COUPLE4SIN wrote:
First the law isn't just about bathrooms. It also allows 14 year old boys to shower with 14 year old girls in school. I have a granddaughter just starting school. I do have a dog in this fight.
Oh look, a thing that never happens! There's no dog for you to have in this fight b/c there is no actual fight. Ask any man over the age of 14 if he was happy to shower with anyone else at that age, much less show his junk to several 14 year old girls at one time for them to judge and make fun of. Not to mention that not all boys want to see naked girls and not all girls who want to see other naked girls are polite about it; girls are just as capable of sexually assaulting other girls. The thing you're being told to be afraid of is a thing that A - does not happen in the usual course of life and B - cannot be prevented even with this awful new law in place if a predator wants to prey. Transgender people are not de facto predators. Despite their lack of experience in life, 14 year old boys are not de facto predators. I'll lay odds if all things were known your granddaughter's parents would have greater concerns about her swinging, adultering grandparents' effect on her than what goes on when she goes into a bathroom.
Chance are you have more friends in your life right now who would be hurt by this bill's adoption here in Utah than you have granddaughters you want to shelter with it SOMEDAY, just in case.
Right and there is no so such thing as teenage pregnancy. Because all boys think 14 year olds have cuties. Oh by the way. the law also allows 27 year old men to use the girls showers at public pools.
Right and there is no so such thing as teenage pregnancy. Because all boys think 14 year olds have cuties. Oh by the way. the law also allows 27 year old men to use the girls showers at public pools.
What the fuck are you talking about? I think you have a fine mix of Fox News misinformation and hyperbole going in your comments. What next, lemme guess it will require some horrific whatever to happen to someone imaginary.
Bob
Bob
I thin k what Couple4Sin is saying, as I told her when I saw her at a party Saturday night, is something that some right wingers are spreading as "what the federal rules mean". Ad OI reminded her how those same people were saying that if men were allowed to marry men and/or women allowed to marry women, then people would be able to marry their dog (or cat, or whatever).
I'd be smazed if anyone insisted that 1a 14 year old boy be allowwed to shower with 14 year old girls. In the first place, something like that owuld end up in court, and the decision would probably bve based on whetehr "he" is a boy or a girl. It's kind of the same thing aas that jerk radio show host worrying about some man who was "just feling a little feminine that day" going into the female restroom. Being transgendered is a whole lot more than just "feeling a little feminine" or "feeling a little masculine". Granted, a lot of details need to be worked out, but that's just because transgender is a relatively new reality.
But the problem with laws like NC's is that they want to completely ignore the reality. Under that law, you are the sex you were born with, and that's it. IF, say, a cmale child ws surgicakly changed to femaale for some unusual health reson at age 14 months, when "he" got to school, despite having been female for effectively all his life, "he" would be legally forced to use the boy's room at school.
Yes, a lot needs to be figured out, probably mostly at what point from "I'd rather wear a dress than boy's pants" to a full blown surgical changeover does a person become transgendered, and it will be really comnplicated to do it and be fair to everyone, but passing laws to try to make transgendering disappear, and to discriminate against transgendered people, isn't the answer. What it is is proof of ignorance, intolerance, prejudice, fear, and, yes, even hate.
If you look at all the other parts of the bill, concerning minimum wages, forbidding cities from passing many laws of their own, forbidding suing in state court over employment discrimination, you see that thy're using a hot button issue in that part of the country, transgender rights, to sneak in a return to the days of Jim Crow. The main difference is that nowadays, instead of being aimed at only blacks, it's aimed at numerous groups, essentially anyone who isn't a white, heterosexual, at least middle class, person. Just like their voter ID law, which would disenfranchise thousands of poor and minority citizens.
I'd be smazed if anyone insisted that 1a 14 year old boy be allowwed to shower with 14 year old girls. In the first place, something like that owuld end up in court, and the decision would probably bve based on whetehr "he" is a boy or a girl. It's kind of the same thing aas that jerk radio show host worrying about some man who was "just feling a little feminine that day" going into the female restroom. Being transgendered is a whole lot more than just "feeling a little feminine" or "feeling a little masculine". Granted, a lot of details need to be worked out, but that's just because transgender is a relatively new reality.
But the problem with laws like NC's is that they want to completely ignore the reality. Under that law, you are the sex you were born with, and that's it. IF, say, a cmale child ws surgicakly changed to femaale for some unusual health reson at age 14 months, when "he" got to school, despite having been female for effectively all his life, "he" would be legally forced to use the boy's room at school.
Yes, a lot needs to be figured out, probably mostly at what point from "I'd rather wear a dress than boy's pants" to a full blown surgical changeover does a person become transgendered, and it will be really comnplicated to do it and be fair to everyone, but passing laws to try to make transgendering disappear, and to discriminate against transgendered people, isn't the answer. What it is is proof of ignorance, intolerance, prejudice, fear, and, yes, even hate.
If you look at all the other parts of the bill, concerning minimum wages, forbidding cities from passing many laws of their own, forbidding suing in state court over employment discrimination, you see that thy're using a hot button issue in that part of the country, transgender rights, to sneak in a return to the days of Jim Crow. The main difference is that nowadays, instead of being aimed at only blacks, it's aimed at numerous groups, essentially anyone who isn't a white, heterosexual, at least middle class, person. Just like their voter ID law, which would disenfranchise thousands of poor and minority citizens.
Personally I don't think it is really against the 00.03% of the population that say they are transgendered. I think it is to keep those that would claim to be just to get access to the opposite sexed locker rooms. As an example in sports the women reporters now have access to the men's locker rooms after games but do men reporters have access to the women's locker rooms? This is a very small portion of society to make the majority uncomfortable. Solutions have been offered such as a third restroom but that was not good enough. I am sure there have been a lot of transgender folks using the restroom of their choice and it was no big deal. Now someone comes along and wants a law passed allowing them to do it with no repercussions. Now some food for thought: Will that guy that claims to be transgendered go out and when there is a long line for the women's restroom now claim to be a guy because the line is a lot shorter?