Came across this from my 2016 file. Given the rather noisome present conversation, I thought another share might be in order.
Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, people gotta pee. That’s just the way it is.
When I was a kid there were seven of us living in a house with one bathroom. I remember being amazed when I started kindergarten and discovered that the school had big separate bathrooms for boys and girls. Not only that, there were multiple seats available in the girls’ restroom, each with its own door. Amazing! In the more than half a century that has elapsed since then it has never even once crossed my mind that a transgender person might need to use the same facility that I use. I don’t recall anyone ever even mentioning the subject. There was one notable discussion, at a private club, about some of the guys using the gals’ bathroom because, according to those same guys, their own bathroom was too dirty; it was “suggested” to them that they might consider cleaning up after themselves, which they did after being barred from the cleaner room. Some of my favorite fishing spots have facilities that are only designated “open” or “occupied”; again, the transgender issue has never come into play.
Which is not to suggest that I don’t have an issue with public restrooms. I do. But it’s one of accessibility, otherwise known as “the handicap stall”. How come there’s usually only one in a room with twenty stalls? And it’s usually in use, not necessarily by someone with physical difficulties. It’s understandable, really, given that many of the regular stalls are so tiny that contortionists have trouble squeezing in far enough to close the damn door while jamming hips and elbows into walls and TP dispensers. Factor in coats, purses, infants, and squirming toddlers and yes, the more spacious stall seems like a most welcome paradise.
Seriously, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to hold it while waiting for that stall, while many of the regular stalls were empty. I’ve had to wait for someone to finish changing clothes, for the mommy and all four kids to each take their turns, for the giggling phone call with the boyfriend to end (personal note, ew!); one young lady came scampering out and, noting my walker and oxygen tank, shrugged and commented “Hey, it’s not MY fault you’re crippled.” That exact remark, by the way, was delivered by a guy whose car overlapped the designated handicap parking spot making it unusable. But I digress.
So, if we’re going to make public restrooms an issue, can we at least have a discussion over something that really IS a problem and already has a considerable track record of real demonstrable concern? How about just making all public facilities as comfortable and functional and accessible as possible? Until that happens, though, we can at least acknowledge that use of handicap stalls does not require a prior examination of one’s genitals. Seriously.
|
