Peeing, we all do it. And especially after a couple beers, and you break that seal, peeing is going to happen more often than not. As a trans person, bathrooms are often a difficult thing to navigate. With the emergence of apps like Refuge, it's becoming easier and easier to find safe spaces to use trans friendly restrooms. But at two in the morning when you gotta go, you gotta go. I've listed a couple Chicago bars here that I know for a fact are not the best experience when it comes to peeing as a transgender male. Take my experience so as to keep yourselves safe in the future.

1. Boiler Room

Boiler room has an amazing selection of drinks, great decor, and killer pizza. They have a daily $10 special with a slice of pizza, shot of Jameson, and tall boy of PBR. Everything about this bar is chill and fun. That is, except the men's bathroom. While the bathroom has some pretty cool wall graffiti and a CTA voiceover that plays when you walk in, it also only has one toilet and no door. There is a thick wall that separates the person sitting down from those using urinals, but one step to the right and they would clearly see everything. This bathroom wasn't the worst experience ever, but I was glad to be alone in there.

2. Logan Arcade

If you love barcades, this is for sure the spot to hit. They have dozens of pinball machines, obscure Japanese games, all the Street Fighter you can imagine, and a solid selection on tap. What I have to say about these bathrooms has nothing to do with the facilities and everything to do with the crowd. I have only gone to this bar specifically on their "Queer Nights" and have still had trouble with people there. Every time that I have gone to the bathroom here, I have been followed in as well as told that I was in the wrong bathroom. For a bar that prides itself on being so queer friendly that they have nights for the community, it is not reflected back in their patronage.

3. East Room

I went to this bar for the first time very recently and was on the whole unimpressed. I had gone with some other queer friends of mine and the few of us whom were new to the space all felt the intense heteronormativity weighing in the air. When I went to the bathroom, I walked into a room with only one red light bulb and about 12 cis men. There was one toilet in the middle of the room not covered by anything. I had to wait a few minutes so that the man peeing into the toilet could finish, and then I proceeded to have to wipe down the entire toilet. I was finally able to sit down and do my business when I realized that every single dude in the bathroom was staring at me. One guy opened the door to make sure he was was in the right bathroom. All I was wondering was if cis men just don't poop in bars? I quickly finished and ran out of the bathroom as I could feel the air in the room turning hostile.

4. Little Jim's

Let me clarify first, I LOVE LITTLE JIM'S. I have been attending Little Jim's pretty regularly for over a year now. It's a cute seedy gay bar with a bunch of old queens who go there every weekend. It's one of the few places like it left in Boystown and has always stayed true to itself. That being said, I do everything in my power to use the bathroom before I get there. Little Jim's has two bathrooms; one is a single stall women's bathroom which nearly everyone in the bar uses (primarily because you'll rarely ever see a woman in there), the second is a men's bathroom that has two urinals and one toilet. There is no division between the two, and they are extremely close. So close that when you sit down, you are eye to eye with another person's junk. That's not always a bad thing, I'm just warning you.

5. SWIG

This bar screams Wicker Park dive bar. It's got great music, a cool atmosphere, and super chill decor. The drinks may be a little pricey but it's also exactly what you would expect for Wicker Park. From what I can tell, the women's bathroom seems to be just perfect in size. The men's bathroom on the other handle, is a single stall toilet. Since this bar seems to be pretty male-centric, the line for the bathroom always seems to be 10 patrons long. Once inside the bathroom, you know for sure that not a soul using it expected someone to come sit down and pee. I had to leave the bar and run to Taco Bell just to find somewhere palatable to go.