Concerning Restrooms

I have inadvertently walked into the wrong restroom in the past, and didn't even notice until I came out of it. Or when we've been traveling, I've purposely used the men's restroom at gas stations, when the women's is occupied; but, that's because they are single occupancy toilets and I wasn't infringing upon anyone. And sometimes, when you've got to go, you've got to go.

The frenzy in this country over gender identity and toilet usage is frightening. Really it is. Even if you acknowledge that there are transgender individuals, you should also be able to acknowledge that there is no way to gauge the honesty of everyone who uses a bathroom. Whereas, gender allocation according to xx and xy chromosomes is fairly apparent for most toilet trained individuals, the makeup of each person's psyche is not.

And what about that psyche? Every living person has to come to grips with his or her own identity, feel comfortable within his or her own skin, and fit into society. When we bend the mores of society to accommodate the feelings of a few, we disrupt the balance of the whole. Why is it any wonder that this would be disturbing to the psyche of those affected by such changes?

So should we remain uncaring for those few? I don't think it's an either/or situation. Many stores and other public places have a smaller bathroom for families or disabled individuals. If there are those who do not feel comfortable walking into a bathroom with those of their own biological makeup, they should be allowed to go into one of these.

I think it goes beyond safety. It has to do with comfort as well. Why should less than 1% of the population have the right to infringe upon the emotional comfort and well-being of the rest? Every time we hear about the safety of women and children; but I would like to pose something else. If there were a man standing at a urinal, he'd be pretty upset to see a woman walking into the restroom. Whether she says she identifies as a man or not, every single cell of her body says she's a woman, as do his eyes.

If we are honest and caring, we wouldn't want purported equality. If we are honest and caring, we would have to acknowledge that saying persons can use whichever bathroom fits their gender identity will pose more problems than it could ever fix. If we are honest and caring, even while acknowledging that there are those who truly deal with identity issues, we would also acknowledge that there are even more who will take advantage of new restroom policies to exploit others and gratify themselves.

But while most of us are caring, honesty is difficult to find nowadays. And it wouldn't be reasonable to have everyone who needs to use a restroom take a lie detector test. So sooner or later, there may only be restrooms and not men's or women's restrooms. And some will say that is fine and how it should be.