[An update on the Colorado legislation SB-200 allowing transgendered people to use the restroom of their choice. It was signed into law.]
"Who would have believed that the Colorado state Legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation?
Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence."
[snip]
"This is your government in action. It represents a payback to Tim Gill and two other billionaires who have essentially ‘bought’ the state Legislature with enormous campaign contributions. Coloradans deserve better!"
54 comments
"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator , bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence."
Damn those Yautja!
fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation?
1. Without note or explanation? The transgendered people I've spoken to explain themselves when "caught" in the "wrong" restroom.
Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence.
Right. Whereas before this law was signed into effect, no predator ever entered the wrong restroom, because, after all, he or she wasn't allowed to . I can just picture what goes on in the pedophile's mind... "Hmmm, I soooo wanna go rape that chick who just walked into that restroom, but I'm not allowed in there. Aaaaawwww ... ".
Sigh.
"This is your government in action.
Oh yes. Score one for rational thought.
"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence"
I'd very much hope they'd do it in the stall, not right out in front of everyone. Fundie's have sick minds...
honestly, I don't particularly like this either. I don't really have a problem with bathrooms, but in locker rooms a lot of people do walk around naked and having someone who is technically the opposite sex in the room is going to make things awkward. if they are actually transsexual that's another matter, but the whole point of having segregating changing facilities is so that people can change without people of the opposite sex observing them.
I'm sorry, but, for the most part, I agree.
I don't completely disagree on this one with ol' ass clown Dobson.
I'm not particularly freaked out about this, however I'm not sure it was really the right decision. I don't like the idea of a gay man using a womens' bathroom or a lesbian woman using the mens' room. I just wouldn't feel at ease changing in front of the opposite sex at the gym...
On the other hand, I think a transsexual should be permitted to use whichever restroom he or she chooses.
Yeah, it's men's bathrooms where you pee out in front of everyone. And while i can't speak for all the transfolk amongst us, i'd imagine most of us just want to quietly do our business without calling undue attention to ourselves.
Plus, hey Dobson. There were ALREADY trannies using your precious gender-segregated bathrooms.
Sexist fundie to both genders. Transsexual females could also use the men's bathroom and why assume males are only 'predators' in that sense? I've met many females that are equally scary.
To the other commenters that think it's odd: Look at it from the perspective of the people the bill is directed to. If there's already fundies against them, you're not exactly helping to overcome their problems of understanding. Hell, we have co-ed bathrooms.
And what about fathers who take their little girls into the mens washroom, or mothers who take their little boys into the womens washroom? Is this not better parenting than to send the poor child into the 'right' public washroom alone?
I have no problem with going into the 'wrong' bathroom. I also have no problem with transgendered people coming into the washroom. I'm assuming this law is just a form of clarification for police if some uptight fundie throws a fit about someone they don't like being in a washroom.
Why aren't you worried about the men and little boys and the mens room? Transgender goes both ways.
I can't say I'm excited at the idea of shared gender bathrooms, but for reasons of comfort, not ignorance.
Can someone direct me to an unbiased review of SB200? All I find when I google are fundie propaganda sites.
Oh, and the locker room post is not me;). The post above that one is, though.
Oh, and Antichrist: When I went to HS in Houston, there'd be janitors walking into the opposite gender's restrooms to clean there. No one had a problem with them.
Something else I've been wondering: When people have buildings with two restrooms, each with one toilet... why do they declare one to be for men and one for women? Why should I care if the person who was in there before me was a man or a woman?
James, do you know what a bisexual is? Why on earth would a bisexual, homosexual, or heterosexual want to go into the opposite sex's bathroom? And why do you talk women down as so weak James? James, knight in shining armor of the poor weak women.
So, does that go the same way for men? Yo, guys, would you mind if I waltzed into your bathroom to relieve myself in your (shielded from view) presence?
"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence."
What exactly is wrong with homosexual males using our bathroom? It's not as if they're going to be having any improper thoughts about us. Heck, the fundies should be all FOR that, as it might encourage them to see more women and thus reconsider their sexual preferences. Right?
And... "in their presence"? All but the worst public toilets tend to have doors .
Isi: it wouldn't bother me, but it might make Dobson's head explode.
Really, though, anyone who frequents bars should be used to this sort of thing. Hell, I've been in the (men's) bathroom while a girl was peeing in the sink. I really just don't see what the big deal is.
I, too, would like to read pertinent sections of the law itself before commenting. I must say, though, that I've been using public restrooms for about 70 years now, without giving it a whole lot of thought. Imagine this becoming an issue. Worry, worry.
When I was in California last year, cleaners of the opposite sex would walk into the "wrong" bathroom. Nobody had a problem with it. Trans people would too, though I don't think its official law there, I saw enough in various places in Santa Monica.
Dobson fails because their aren't piss pots in the women's bathroom, there are stalls. So this "homosexual predator relieving himself in their presence" is bull. Besides, why do we still have gender-segregated bathrooms in this day and age? The unwritten "rules" concerning them are broken so much - by potty-training mothers and fathers, as somebody mentioned upthread, by lesbians, trans, gays, hets - before this law even came into effect that segregated public bathrooms seem pointless.
For those of you who have a problem with this, please remember that transgender people are not the gender they were born. Even if you have a penis, if you are transgendered, you are a woman. You feel like a woman, act like a woman, think like a woman, and in every conceivable manner, you ARE a woman.
Before this legislation, we had self-identified women having to use men's rooms, but that doesn't seem to bother James Dobson, because he doesn't believe Male-to-Female transgendered people exist.
I'm not really that worried about predators hurting me in public restrooms, but even if I was, this law wouldn't make me any more fearful. A sign or law is not going to stop someone who really wants to prey on someone else.
M/F Transsexuals are the same sex as you women. F/M transsexuals are the same sex as you men. If you're uncomfortable with it, that's your problem. Not theirs. Just like it's your problem if you can't understand that this is the solution that will result in the highest comfort level for all.
Would it really make sense for someone who's identified herself as a women her whole life, and has been living as a women 10, 20, 30 years to walk into a mens room every time she needs to pee? This is the most comfortable solution for everyone in the establishment?
And, though I have no problem with F/M transsexuals in the ladies room, are you saying that everyone would be more comfortable if someone living as a man, possibly with male genitalia, used the ladies' bathroom/locker room instead of the mens' room? think a little.
I have several Transgendered friends, hell, while on vacations I have stayed in the same room as several of them. I don't really care if a trans person uses the same bathroom as me any more then i care of the opposite sex uses the same bathroom. I mean, how many of us have lived in a place with only one bathroom?
"It represents a payback to Tim Gill and two other billionaires who have essentially bought’ the state Legislature with enormous campaign contributions. Coloradans deserve better!"
No it represents a payback to you fundies who have run the country into the ground in only 7 years. Colorado just got better. Your crying and whining confirms it.
Re: Male/Female single-occupancy restrooms
There's a coffeeshop here the subverts that brilliantly. There's two single-person restrooms, but instead of "Men" and "Women", they're labelled "Caffeinated" and "Decaffeinated", with no further disambiguation.
"It represents a payback to Tim Gill and two other billionaires who have essentially bought’ the state Legislature with enormous campaign contributions."
But it's not so bad when you've bought out almost the whole GOP, now is it?
"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence."
Right, because if it were illegal, a predator would stop at the door and say, "Well gosh darn it, I can't go in there! I sure wish the governor had made it legal!"
Men's rooms are for men. Women can use them if the men's room is crowded.
Women's rooms are for women. Men can only use them if being currently fucked by a drunk chick at a night club.
Transsexuals really can't decide and ought to be given a little leeway. Is that so wrong?
(And single-seat bathrooms should be unisex. When you have only two toilets, labeling one "Mens" and one "Womens" is a little unnecessary.)
Hey look, everyone! It's even more fundie fearmongering. What a total surprise!
It represents a payback to Tim Gill and two other billionaires who have essentially bought’ the state Legislature with enormous campaign contributions.
This statement comes dangerously near to being slander, "Mr." Dobson.
just for the record...
transSEXUAL means they have the genitalia of their new gender.
transGENDER merely means they prefer to be treated at the opposite sex, but have their original genitalia.
the two are not the same and the second is what's being referred to here. it really does make a difference in this particular circumstance.
@ Jeff:
You ain't the only one. There's a DVD season set I'm actively hunting for, and I did think of looking at a Suncoast. Unfortunately for me, the only Suncoast left in CO is in The Springs. Shucky-darn, guess I'll have to keep looking in Denver.
Umn, fucknugget? Has it ever occured to you that the average transwoman has a greater probability of being beaten or killed by a man whilst cornered in a private place like a bathroom than any female has of being attacked by a transperson?
No?
Oh, you were just worried that one of your ilk might accidentally hit on a transman while you're out, fucking 20 guys in an airport bathroom.
Honestly. Nothing is as selfish as a fundie dick.
1. @ peabody:
"Hell, I've been in the (men's) bathroom while a girl was peeing in the sink. I really just don't see what the big deal is."
Dude, find another bar.
2. Uhhh... predators don't look for little girls just to relieve themselves in front of them. (Although that might be part of it.) They want to do a LOT more than just piss on them...
@556557: How so?
If I had identified myself as a woman for my entire life, even if I had my "original genitalia," why should I have to go into the mens' room? How would that make sense?
I guess we have to ask ourselves how we divide the restrooms to begin with. The signage on the rooms would seem to imply that it has to do with gender, not "original genitalia." They're not (usually) labeled the Penis room and the Vagina room. Case in point: If some dude lost his genitalia in a horrific accident, would he suddenly be at a loss as to which restroom to use? No. He would continue to use the Mens' room, because he would (presumably) still identify himself as a dude.
Personally, I don't quite understand what the big deal with separate bathrooms is in the first place. It's not like it's a privacy thing, because they all have separate stalls anyway. But I probably have a more fluid perspective on sexuality than your average conservative fundie.
Conservative views of sexuality or no, Dobson's fearmongering comments are unbelievable. Why would a gay man walk into the ladies' room? What does that have to do with transgendered people at all?
Charlie:
I'm being silly. Compartmentalize nothing -- men's is for men, women's is for women, transsexuals should be able to use either by virtue of being in between, and no, I've never gotten fucked in a night club ladies room by a drunk chick. I am by no means sufficiently attractive or interesting to do so.
have you read the bill? Most men aren't transexuals. And anyway, in england, men often take their daughters into male changing rooms, to keep an eye on them. I highly doubt that anything could happen to them.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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