Gender-neutral bathrooms are a tough topic to write about, especially in 21st century America where people tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves. However, I feel that we can find some common ground somewhere amongst all the arguments and debates.
As a Christian, I believe there are only two genders that the Lord gave us: male and female. Likewise I believe that you are assigned that gender in the womb and thus have to stick with it until you cease to be on this earth because, in my opinion, you have no control over it. Perhaps this is why people who identify as transgender confuse me so much, because they feel as though they don’t have control over their identity. They feel that they are born this way.
Despite the explanations, the politics and everything else, I still cannot fathom how you cannot identify with your birth gender. I am not meaning to strike these people down —I only mean that the position is very opposite myself.
Nonetheless, when there exists people who identify as transgender, there exists the question of what bathroom they should use.
I just can’t fathom why I am sitting here writing this article about the subject in the first place. Do you think the founding fathers ever imagined that transgender bathroom use would be an issue concerning state legislatures? I do not. This is the case however, so we will deal with it as we see fit.
I will be completely honest; my first inclination is to side with the authors of the “bathroom bill” currently being suggested in the SC legislature, and Governor Pat McCory of North Carolina (NC), who just passed a similar bill in his home state. This is mostly because I honestly cannot comprehend in its entirety the mindset of transgender people. You are who you are, man or woman.
On the other hand though, how can we deny these people the right to use the bathroom?
Where will they go? Should we create a third bathroom just for those who are transgender? No, because they will probably feel discriminated against, and I can honestly understand that.
My whole point is that we cannot deny those the right to use the bathroom, because honestly in the bathroom most people keep to themselves anyway. On the same notion, I do not want some old man walking into the same bathroom as my young daughter, do you? The issue of sexual assault means taking the safety of all people into account. There opens a door for a much broader array of heinous crimes than discriminating against transgender people.
Perhaps you do not agree with me, but I believe it is hard to draw a clear opinion on this bill and issue because there are so many good points on both sides, and many conflicting interests are involved.
Everyone should be able to use the bathroom in a public place, but no one should be worried about who they will find in there. The bathroom is a private place. Maybe the best option would be to get rid of urinals in men’s bathrooms, if state legislatures choose to do so. You walk into whatever gender’s bathroom you identify with, and then you have your own PRIVATE area. Will this fix the problem? I cannot be sure. I have a feeling that this issue is a long way from being resolved.
