You know, once my children grew past about 2 years old, I never imagined I would have to go further in explaining bathrooms. This weekend, Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked Pete Buttigieg over the fact he and his partner should not go into women’s restrooms.
There are so, so many problems here. I guess she is confusing homophobia with transphobia, but regardless of the phobia, I’m beginning to question if conservatives even understand how restrooms work. So, I just thought I’d make it pretty clear how a restroom works.
First, a restroom is used to relieve yourself. It is a common bodily process that all human beings engage in, and is required for our day-to-day living. Try to go a few days without urinating. It won’t work out so well for you.
Second, a restroom is generally supposed to be clean and sanitary and has sinks so you can wash your hands. One of the best applications I’ve ever seen on any device is Apple’s iWatch timer for washing your hands which can help you make sure you are doing it right. To add to this, I love seeing public bathrooms with a “foot open” device which allows you to use your foot to open the bathroom door instead of using your hands on a handle. Those always make me feel better.
Third, for decades, we’ve had unisex bathrooms, large ones, in many locations all over the country. It is not a new concept. We’ve had family restrooms for changing diapers. We’ve had communal spaces.
Do I worry about someone going into a bathroom and trying to take advantage because of any situation? No. Why? Because the consequences are already there if they were to do that in the law and the public blowback is serious. On the other hand, do I worry about it when it happens and someone actually has to use the restroom?
No. In fact, here in the midwest, at least once I’ve seen men help smuggle women into the men’s restroom because the line to the women’s restroom was too long at an NFL and MLB game locally. I’ve also been told of men who went into a women’s restroom with a 5-6 year old daughter so they could stay outside their door so they wouldn’t be scared.
I have never heard of anyone saying: “That guy is creepy!” In fact, the reason why I mention that is the exact situation I saw happen at a restaurant I was at a few weeks ago, and no one was saying: “What a pervert!” instead, they were saying: “oh is he such a good dad wanting to make sure his daughter isn’t scared.”
So, once again, here we go:
(1) Go into the bathroom. Use bathroom. Close the door if you need to close the door.
(2) Please make sure the toilet flushes. Put down the seat if you raised it.
(3) WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS. Use the sink and use soap. If you have disinfectant, use that too if you desire.
(4) If a man or woman is changing a diaper, leave them alone. They are already stressed the hell out. They do not care about you.
(5) Make sure your zipper is zipped up and your hands are dry.
(6) Exit the restroom and return to where you came from
The end.
Marjorie, if you are worried about what Pete Buttigieg is going to do in a bathroom, I’m worried for you. Maybe you are confused about homophobia and transphobia. If you don’t know how restrooms work, you need to figure that out.
PS — I have two restrooms in my house. Turns out they are both unisex, and we let anyone of any gender into either of them.
