'Washington Post' Columnist Has Advice Regarding 'Transgender' Bathrooms

(AP Photo)

Remember, about five minutes ago, when “transgender” issues were unheard of? When men wearing dresses were called transvestites, and sexual appurtenances were regarded as proof positive of sex distinctions? Hater:

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Dear Civilities: The two public restrooms at our local theater are now trans-accessible, meaning the door placards were changed to ambiguous silhouettes that represent both male and female. But the theater often hosts school groups. At a recent teen gallery opening, mothers and grandmothers barred the doors to prevent men from entering while their daughters and granddaughters were using the two-stall facilities. I thought this was an unfortunate side-effect of a trans-positive change, but I do think it’s a problem for children to use co-ed bathrooms alongside adults. How to find a compromise?

— Name withheld, San Francisco

The Washington Post’s “Civilities” columnist Steven Petrow reponds:

A: Here’s my advice to the worried mothers and grandmothers in this situation: Go into the restroom along with your young charges to wash your hands, fix your hair and keep an eye out. Notice I didn’t say with your daughters — my advice applies to boys as well, because this is an issue of safety, not gender. But please, don’t bar access to others who also have the right to use the facilities.

Public restrooms are clearly the next LGBT battleground, with a decided emphasis on the “T.” After last year’s ugly, but successful, effort to repeal Houston’s equal rights ordinance (largely because opponents claimed it would allow male predators to assault women and children) the floodgates have opened. Several states — including Texas, Arizona, Florida and Kentucky — are now considering bills that would bar bathroom access for transgender people. Last month, after fiery debate, South Dakota passed a bill requiring students to use restrooms designated for the gender they were assigned at birth — to be determined by a chromosomal test or birth certificate. The governor has until March 1 to sign or veto the bill.

This misguided — and discriminatory — battle is primarily about keeping transgender women out of women’s restrooms. Laws are positioned as measures to defend women against “sexual predators,” but the facts don’t support that fear. “In the places where transgender-inclusive policies exist, there has been no increase in [restroom] public safety incidents,” said Nick Adams, GLAAD’s director of programs for transgender media. He added that even when nondiscrimination protections include transgender people, it’s always illegal “for anyone to enter a public restroom for the purpose of harassing or harming another person, or invading their privacy.”

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Naturally, the supporting quote comes from an LGBT rights organization. Their motto: “Leading the conversation. Shaping the media narrative. Changing the culture. That’s GLAAD at work.”

Let’s also remember that the overwhelming majority of sexual predators are straight men, which is why I would not want a daughter or son of mine to go unsupervised into a bathroom with adult men.

Dickens, in Oliver Twist, has just the proper response to this continuing and unending assault on cultural norms:

“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is a ass – a idiot”.

The Left: they never stop, they never sleep, they never quit.

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