In the news… I keep hearing about public restroom bills being introduced around the country. This is one of THE hot legislative topics right now. Type “bathroom legislation” into Google and you’ll see. I started taking notes. In this year alone:
January 15th, Kentucky introduced bill 76, the Kentucky Student Privacy Act – which would allow students to sue a school for $2,500 if they encounter a person of the opposite biological sex in a bathroom or locker room if staff have allowed it or failed to prohibit it.
February 4th, the Florida House introduced bill 583, which would bar citizens from using single-sex public restrooms, dressing rooms, and showers that do not correspond with the gender listed on their legal identification.
February 20th, Debbie Riddle of the Texas House presented bills 1747 and 1748. 1747 makes it a crime for transgender Texans to use a public accommodation such as a bathroom or locker room if the gender marker does not correlate with their gender identity. 1748 makes it a felony for business owners to repeatedly allow a person to use public accommodations if that person’s gender identity does not match their chromosomes.
And on March 10th, Texas again, 2801, schools must “adopt a policy providing that only persons of the same biological sex may be present at the same time in any bathroom, locker room, or shower facility.”
Bathrooms are apparently a VERY big deal in Texas.
Let’s take a look at the language in one of these bills. If you don’t like knowing how the sausage is made, avert your eyes.
“For the purpose of this section, the gender of an individual is the gender established at the individual’s birth or the gender established by the individual’s chromosomes. A male is an individual with at least one X chromosome and at least one Y chromosome, and a female is an individual with at least one X chromosome and no Y chromosomes. If an individual’s gender established at the individual’s birth is not the same as the individual’s gender established by the individual’s chromosomes, the individual’s gender established by the individual’s chromosomes controls under this section.” – Texas Bill #1748, Section E
Debbie Riddle, folks. Look her up – I swear you won’t be certain what her chromosomal makeup actually is.
Here’s what every one of these bills has in common. They were all introduced by Republicans, those champions of small government, except where bathrooms and women’s sexual health are concerned.
Now, from time to time we have a feature on Moss Island called Sound Off, where somebody presents a different take on something we’ve talked about. Healthy debate is a good thing. So without further ado, Nicky, from Avenue Q.
NICKY: Thank you Chris, for allowing me to be on your podcast. This is a very important topic, and I have a lot to say about it, so I hope you’ll bear with me.
Puppet restrooms have been overlooked too long in this country. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out, I’ve felt nature’s call, but there’s no place for me to go.
It’s refreshing to see this issue finally being addressed. I have no problem with men who want to dress up like women, or women who want to pee like men, but what I can’t stand for is when they want to use my restroom!
Puppet restrooms are for people of FELT. Period! Why should I have to feel uncomfortable in my own restroom? If you let transgender people use puppet restrooms, pretty soon EVERYONE is going to want to use them! And then where will we be? ANARCHY, that’s what’s going to happen.
Hey, there’s a puppet restroom – let’s stick our hands up in the puppet! This is unacceptable! We have a RIGHT to feel safe and COMFORTABLE in our own restrooms! If I have to move to Texas to get that, then by golly I’m gonna do it!
CHRIS: Um, Nicky? Nicky – hold on a minute.
NICKY: Yeah?
CHRIS: Um, you said “puppet restrooms.” We’re not talking about puppet restrooms. These are PUBLIC restrooms. PUBLIC. Not puppet.
NICKY: Public restrooms?
CHRIS: That’s right.
NICKY: Oh! Never mind.
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