Editor,
OMG! I can’t believe that the great bathroom controversy is once again at center stage. In my lifetime, whenever there is a point-of-law dialogue about equality and acceptance of differences, the same old toilet-boogeyman paranoia kicks in!
The ERA, civil rights, gay rights, transgender rights – the alarmist rhetoric always goes something like this: “Oh no! I cannot possibly share a public facility with someone who is not exactly like me!” Whether the current issue is sex, race, sexual preference or gender identity, the inference is always the same – “these people” are not like me, therefore they are perverts who want to peep at me and fantasize and possibly attack me.
I’m not saying perverts don’t exist. There’s ample evidence in the news every day that they do. But they’re certainly not identifiable by any of the above groupings. And they don’t wear nametags that say, “Hi, I’m a pervert. Can I peek at your stuff?”
Actually, the odds are pretty good that there are well-disguised perverts amongst the group you’ve identified as “just like me.” In fact, there may be one sitting in the bathroom stall next to you right now! If you want to be completely safe you should probably never use any public restroom, anywhere, any time, ever again.
Personally, my public restroom experiences have changed very little in sixty some years in spite of all the controversy. I go in, lock the door or stall, do my thing, wash my hands and leave. If the girl at the next mirror has an Adam’s apple, who am I to criticize? I’ve noticed the last few years that if I don’t keep plucking it, I have a bit of a mustache. I hope that sweet and compassionate lady Christian doesn’t decide I’m transgender and kick the tar out of me!
Gloria Churchill