Okay, America, let's talk.
I did not want to report on this because I thought it was too dumb and shortsighted to captivate our attention but here it is in mid-May, and here we are, two steps from secession, over bathrooms.
Of all the things to fell this great nation, North Carolina and the Department of Justice have just sued each other. The Department of Justice has issued a statement on the matter for the Tar Heels and other states that just recently considered similar legislation-- an all-star lineup including Arizona, Tennessee, Mississipi, and Arkansas-- which is clear evidence of state and federal conflicts: good timing for AP exams.
(Am I allowed to say that? Is it too soon? Is the College Board coming for me?)
People have asked other cis hetero women like myself and me how we feel about transgenders being allowed in our bathrooms.
To be completely honest, I have not noticed.
And I don't live in Arkansas, or Mississippi; I live in the state where "sexually deviant" people come for refuge from all of the existing prejudices against their lifestyles–– California. So I'd daresay the odds of me coming into visual contact with one are a bit higher.
Things that are on my mind when I go into a restroom:
Obtaining a clean stall.
Not accidentally cutting someone off in line just because my bladder took over my senses.
Checking my hair and if the Japanese flag waves early (that's a reference to menstruation, boys. Cover your ears).
Things that are not in my mind when I go into a restroom:
What exists between the legs of my stall-mates.
What it makes me if I were to check on the genitals of my stall-mates: A pervert.
What it makes me if I'm bringing weaponry to bathrooms with me in defense of my stall-mates: a violent threat who doesn't understand that statistically, transgendered individuals have much more cause to fear me than I have to fear them.
Also, ignoring the fact that they've urinated alongside me all this time, without so much as a raised eyebrow, and that seedy individuals openly identifying as men have followed me to the bathroom only to realize the inevitable: women are almost always present in the bathroom, and they take care of their own like jealous elephants. Better luck next time, pal. However, forcing them to go back with the boys' is casting them back into the claws of predators (and yes, female sexual predators exist, but they're much, much lower, and don't distract yourself from my point by using statistical anomalies. It's annoying).
Hey, South, I know you feel like I've been painting you as ignorant dinguses, but I don't blame you.
I blame your politicians, distracting you from some real problems at hand. That's what tax cuts for your rich buddies and not protecting your laborers from outsourcing, creating angry mobs outside your door will do for you. But tossing the vulnerable out to the masses as scapegoats are politically irresponsible. Also, tawny-haired fascists, but that's next week.
Enough big words; y'all are sports fans, yes? Let's review the scoreboard:
Number of transgenders even accused of bathroom misconduct: 0.
Number of Republicans accused of the same: 3.
Don't like that one:
Number of Republicans who went down for child molestation: I stopped counting after 50.
Number of transgenders: 5.
Another drink? I know it burns.
Let's not let our base instincts such as xenophobia and mob-think rip apart the great values that the Grand Ole' Party used to stand for.
