Thursday, April 21, 2016

Time to vent...Gender Identity and Bathrooms

I need to vent for a few minutes. 

I am feeling a bit offended.  Offended and misunderstood.  It's often hard to be a Republican in a time when the Republican Party is falling apart and about to nominate a complete douche bag to be their nominee for president.  But, this isn't about Trump or the presidential race.

This is about legal permission to use the restroom of the sex you identify with rather than the sex you actually may be.  Or...as I see it...the ability to, without question, go into any restroom or locker room you want.

Now...here is where many people will immediately write me off as a bigot.  Oh, he's a Republican.  He hates LQBT folk.  He wants them all to burn in hell.

Well, if you think that, you don't know me.  Heck...you haven't even read my blog.

I am a supporter of LGBT issues.  My philosophy on most issues of rights can be boiled down to this: If it doesn't hurt someone or infringe upon the rights of others, I don't care.  And, as such, I am much more likely than not to support the issues of others because I believe in individual freedoms.  I want to remain free to tell my theatre friends that Shakespeare isn't all that.  Therefore, I will support others in their quests for rights.

In fact...let's assume you are a woman that feels a penis is really more your style.  Let's assume you walk into the bathroom while I am there.  I would treat you EXACTLY the same as I would a dude.  That is to say, I would completely ignore you and pretend that you weren't there.  If I were already in a stall, I would remain as quiet as possible in the hopes that you won't know that another is in the room.  This is because I hate public bathrooms and I hate sharing my pooping space with anyone!

In summary...I support a transgendered person's desire to use the bathroom of their choice, assuming they are as respectful as anyone else taking a wiz.  Get in, wiz, get out.  Don't mingle, don't stare, don't be a perv.

However...I don't support this controversial law I keep hearing about. 

Disclaimer: I haven't read it.  Nor do I intend to.  It's not my state.  It has no baring on me.  I know only what I have read, on both sides, on the internets.

So, why don't I support this law?  Well, here's an example of why, from Seattle:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/02/17/transgender-rule-washington-state-man-undresses-locker-room/80501904/

You see, there is currently nothing in place to determine who is actually someone who identifies with the opposite sex vs someone who is just a creep.  Supporters of the bill will say this isn't a legitimate concern.  It's by far the minority that would take advantage of the law.

Well, there is no data to support this.  I would offer different non-scientific data.  There are more perverts in the world inclined to take advantage of such a rule than there are transsexuals who would be offended that they *might* have to use the bathroom opposite of the sex the identify with.  (I say might because I stand by my thought that, unless they are weird about it, it won't be questioned more than it will.)

Obviously, none of what I said has any basis in fact.  It's all subject to our own opinions and experience.

So, here is my opinion.  I acknowledge that there are those that will be upset/uncomfortable/offended/other to be forced to use a bathroom that reflects a gender they feel trapped in.  I am sympathetic to this.  BUT...I am more sympathetic to young children and women who may find themselves victims of pedophiles and voyeurs.   

And, that's it.

If you are reading this and feeling like accusing me of saying that transsexuals are pedophiles, then please never talk to anyone because you are so closed minded that you just made up words that I didn't say.

I am saying pedophiles are pedophiles.  And, I am also saying that this is an opening for them to freely practice their pedophilia without recourse. 

Find a way around this and then come talk to me.  Until then...if you have a penis, you use the penis room.  OR...at the very least, simply act like the gender you identify with and use the bathroom you want!  If someone complains, oh well.  Use the other restroom this time.  Sucks, but it's a small price to pay to keep perverts from watching little girls undress. 


I can't NOT chime in on this Supreme Court thing

So, it's no secret on this page that I am rapidly pro-life.  I don't beat around the bush on this topic.  But, what you may not know...