Bathroom Wars

Breakpoint ^ | June 6, 2008 | Chuck Colson

[Fichori]

Bathroom Wars

By Chuck Colson
6/6/2008

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Potty Politics

Three months ago, I told you about a new law in Montgomery County, Maryland, that demands co-ed locker rooms and restrooms in all public accommodations. The law was intended to accommodate “transgendered people”—that is, men who say they perceive themselves to be women, and women who claim they consider themselves men. I said, at the time, that we would see extremists in other jurisdictions attempting to pass similar laws. And that is exactly what is happening.

Last week, Colorado’s legislature passed—and Gov. Bill Ritter signed—a law that will open all public accommodations, including public restrooms, to anyone who wants to use them. That means men may use a women’s restroom, and women may enter men’s rooms. The rationale for Senate Bill 200 is that transgenders should be able to use the restroom they feel most comfortable using. Apparently, it is not important if others feel uncomfortable having their privacy violated every time they use public facilities.

The lack of privacy is not the only problem. Nobody is going to ask a man if he is trangendered before allowing him into the ladies’ room. This means any man—including a child molester—could simply follow a little girl into the privacy of a public restroom. And, if a man decided to expose himself to a young girl there, who is she going to complain to? After all, restrooms, by definition, are places where one exposes the private parts of one’s body.

Men will have even less privacy, because they often do not use stalls.

Appalling as this law is, it gets worse. Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family points out, in the Denver Post, that the law also threatens religious liberty: Colorado’s “public accommodations” law includes not only hotels and restaurants, but also any small or home-based business that offers “goods or services” to the public.

And, as we have seen before, radicals go out of their way to target Christian businesses. As Minnery notes, in Albuquerque, a Christian couple who operate a photography studio politely declined, on religious grounds, to photograph a lesbian “commitment ceremony.” For this exercise of their First Amendment rights, the couple were forced to appear before New Mexico’s human rights commission and fined more than $6,600. Now, if you dare to deny a transgendered “man” access to the women’s room, you can be prosecuted under criminal laws and spend up to a year in jail. It is an outrage.

The American people are not asking for new bathroom laws. The truth is, this is an effort—by a small but radical minority—to use the force of law to punish anyone backward enough to believe there are only two sexes: male and female. The true goal behind the law is the radical remaking of our society—one in which faithful Christians, Muslims, and Jews will be punished for their beliefs.

Are you disgusted enough? Good. If you live in Colorado, get to work putting an initiative on the November ballot. That is what citizens of Montgomery County, Maryland, did. And the rest of us better stay on our guard, keeping an eye on our own lawmakers.

In a free country, nobody has the right to tell us what to believe—or to punish us for putting our First Amendment rights into practice. And, yes, there are men and women who deserve privacy, no matter who tells us there are no differences between the sexes.

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For Further Reading and Information

Tom Minnery, “Proposed Anti-Bias Law would open a Pandora’s Box,” Denver Post, 23 May 2008.

BreakPoint Commentary No. 080305, “Not My Shower: Breaking Biological Barriers.”

Bob Unruh, “Pass the Towels! Plans for Coed Locker Rooms,” Worldnetdaily.com, 2 November 2007.

Bob Unruh, “Coed Locker Rooms given Green Light,” Worldnetdaily.com, 14 November 2007.

Bob Unruh, “ ‘Coed Locker Rooms’ Spark Citizen Backlash,” Worldnetdaily.com, 11 December 2007.

Anne Morse, “Social Chastity Belts,” The Point, 9 April 2008.

John Ingold, “Ritter Signs Controversial Anti-Discrimination Bill,” Denver Post, 29 May 2008.

Ross Kaminsky, “Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Signs Transgender Bill,” Human Events, 3 June 2008.

Urge Colorado governor to veto Senate Bill 200: “Take Action on Colorado Senate Bill 200.”

[Fichori]

Brings a whole new meaning to the term public restrooms, doesn't it?

[Havok]

Why do they continue to make laws for less than .01% of the population?

[Major Matt Mason]

We are rapidly turning into Europe. This country is truly on the downhill slide, and we don't have a political party in place that will stop it.

[Jim 0216]

Is that the man wearing the dress and the gal wearing the pants? Looks like Future Shock and Brave New World as well as the Last Days are here.

[steel_resolve]

Go to any sporting event in the country and you will see women using mens restrooms. Heck, I even saw a woman peeing in a sink in a men’s restroom at a Steeler game.

[Russ]

We are a country going completely mad. Having a national nervous breakdown...

[ml/nj]

Gotta tell you ...

At Belmont on Saturday, in the Clubhouse at least, there was apparently no water pressure in the women's restroom. (Don't know why it was just the women's room but it was.) Sooner or later, the women started using the guys' facilities and really it was no big deal, at least from this guy's perspective.

ML/NJ

[AppyPappy]

I am most comfortable in the women’s locker room.

WOOHOO!!! I love this law.

[ljco]

Go to any sporting event in the country and you will see women using mens restrooms. Heck, I even saw a woman peeing in a sink in a men’s restroom at a Steeler game.

Enact protection for inebriation now!!!!

[devistate one four]

If A “trans” thinks he’s a woman but his dna says he is in fact a man, Isn’t that fraud?

[massgopguy]

When a woman has got to go, she will barge into the Men’s Room and she’ll tell you to get out. Don’t even think about it being the other way around. What I find incredulous is that the government has determined that it is reasonable for a man to say “It’s okay, I have a mental problem” when a woman screams at his nakedness in the Locker Room at the Gym.

[massgopguy]

Oh now there ya’ go...driving them to suicide. It’s bad enough there are doctors who would advise them to get their Prostrate checked when everyone knows women don’t have one.

[megatherium]

I remember when the ERA was up for ratification, opponents said it would lead to unisex bathrooms and to same-sex marriages. Thank goodness the ERA didn't get ratified. <smirk>

[Fichori]

I may be wrong, but neither of you really strike me as being the dad’s of daughters.

[megatherium]

It’s bad enough there are doctors who would advise them to get their Prostrate checked when everyone knows women don’t have one.

At least men can get breast cancer. (That's true, actually.)

[AppyPappy]

But we have a sense of humor

[goldstategop]

We have to put an initiative in the ballot here in the Colorado to send our pervert loving Governor and the liberal Democrats who run the statehouse here a message. We believe in two separate sexes and traditional values!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Dr. Ursus]

You’ve come a long way ,Baby!

[Polybius]

Why do they continue to make laws for less than .01% of the population?

With a small, coed restroom available (one person at a time) they can go to the bathroom in privacy.

Actually, that law helps the rest of us.

Do you want them in your bathroom next to you or in your wife's bathroom next to her?

[lazypadawan]

It will make it easier for pervs and rapists to hang out in the women’s room.

But I guess women’s safety and privacy are miniscule matters when it comes to accomdating a few freaks.

[Nathan Zachary]

Don’t worry. In ‘The last days’, the rebel will have outrageous things like this well under control. As we abandon the freedom and liberties that Christianity has provided along with sensible societal morality, what’s rushing in to fill that vacuum will have those examples of perverse behavior hanging from cranes every few blocks to remind the public that behavior will no longer be tolerated. (like Iran does now)

[thundrey]

A bloke who likes wearing tights and pretty frocks probably isn’t likely to be interested in your wife. He’s more likely to be interested in you....

[Fichori]

I got the impression that the law just made existing facilities available to ‘anyone who wants to use them’.

So even if there was a coed restroom, if a man wanted to ‘use’ the ladies room, he could.

[Polybius]

I got the impression that the law just made existing facilities available to ‘anyone who wants to use them’.

Oh, ..... hmmmm ....., that's diffrent.

(Flashbacks to the coed head of that Navy BOQ.)

[goldstategop]

Its just disgusting. And not the way I was raised.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Fichori]

"Its just disgusting."

Understatement.

Its also not the way I was raised either.

[Fichori]

It should be called the ‘Predator Accommodation Law’

[devistate one four]

ROFLMAO!

[ml/nj]

Yes, you are quite wrong.

ML/NJ

[ml/nj]

When a woman has got to go, she will barge into the Men’s Room and she’ll tell you to get out.

This wasn't the case at all at Belmont. The ladies just strode past the urinals and made their way to the commodes. I remarked to someone, that it reminded me of being in Paris.

ML/NJ

[Obadiah]

“For God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God himself has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him.

Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Though claiming to be wise, they became fools and ex­changed the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

For this reason, God delivered them to sexual impurity as they followed the lusts of their hearts and dishonored their bodies with one another. They exchanged God’s truth for a lie and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

[Fichori]

The reason for my assumption was that I expected anyone who has a daughter would be in disagreement with a law that permits predators/perverts to enter the womans bathroom unquestioned.

Your comment about the clubhouse at Belmont appeared to convey apathy towards the consequences of the new law.

[ml/nj]

Actually, I was commenting on women using the men's room. My guess is that it the situation were reversed, we mostly wouldn't have cared. I don't think the women would have had as casual an attitude about men utilizing their facilities.

ML/NJ

[Russ]

No one can express it as well as the Holy Scripture. Thank you...

[Burkean]

It all went downhill after women started wearing pants. I remember when I was in school, girls HAD to wear dresses unless the temperature was below 32 degrees.

[fwdude]

The way you were raised is simply wrong, shallow, bigoted, and hate-filled. At least that is what the “enlightened” leftists would tell you.

[Fichori]

I pity those who are, or should be, consigned to a mental institution.

May God draw them to himself that they might find salvation and deliverance.

[TASMANIANRED]

Rape waiting to happen.

[Fichori]

Everybody who is able to carry a gun SHOULD carry a gun.

Especially women.

But having birdbrained politicians passing these kinds of laws is still unacceptable.

[TASMANIANRED]

No argument here.

As much as I loathe the french, they did have one good idea....way back when.

[Fichori]

I don’t know much about the French.

What was their good idea?

[TASMANIANRED]

Politicians...guillotine.

You have to fill in the elipsis..Don’t want to be accused of threatening any one..

[Doe Eyes]

I read thought the bill from a link posted above,

Senate Bill 08-200

but if was difficult to figure out which section allows trans-gendered men access to womens restrooms.

Anyone?

[Fichori]

The bold is original.
ALL CAPS is [I think] the text that has been amended in, and the struck out is what has been removed.
The red is what I have highlighted for emphasis.

SECTION 6. 24-34-601 (1) and (2), Colorado Revised Statutes, are amended to read:
24-34-601. Discrimination in places of public accommodation.
PAGE 5-SENATE BILL 08-200

(1) As used in this part 6, "place of public accommodation" means any place of business engaged in any sales to the public and any place offering services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to the public, including but not limited to any business offering wholesale or retail sales to the public; any place to eat, drink, sleep, or rest, or any combination thereof; any sporting or recreational area and facility; any public transportation facility; a barber shop, bathhouse, swimming pool, bath, steam or massage parlor, gymnasium, or other establishment conducted to serve the health, appearance, or physical condition of a person; a campsite or trailer camp; a dispensary, clinic, hospital, convalescent home, or other institution for the sick, ailing, aged, or infirm; a mortuary, undertaking parlor, or cemetery; an educational institution; or any public building, park, arena, theater, hall, auditorium, museum, library, exhibit, or public facility of any kind whether indoor or outdoor. "PLACE OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION" SHALL NOT INCLUDE A CHURCH, SYNAGOGUE, MOSQUE, OR OTHER PLACE THAT IS PRINCIPALLY USED FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES.

(2) It is a discriminatory practice and unlawful for a person, directly or indirectly, to refuse, withhold from, or deny to an individual or a group, because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, marital status, national origin, or ancestry, the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation or, directly or indirectly, to publish, circulate, issue, display, post, or mail any written, ELECTRONIC, or printed communication, notice, or advertisement which THAT indicates that the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation will be refused, withheld from, or denied an individual or that an individual's patronage or presence at a place of public accommodation is unwelcome, objectionable, unacceptable, or undesirable because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.

[Red emphasis mine]

In paragraph 1, we see what is covered by this amendment, including facilities.
(What kind of facilities does Macdonald's have?)

In paragraph 2, we learn that it is "a discriminatory practice and unlawful" to "publish, circulate, issue, display, post" anything that indicates the "full and equal enjoyment" of the "accommodations of a place of public accommodation will be refused" based on their "SEXUAL ORIENTATION".

In other words, the little sign on the ladies restroom is discriminatory against men who think they are women.(But don't look like the picture on the door)

Or, saying a room is for women only is discriminatory.(I think that will cover dressing rooms in malls also)

Now, I'm not a lawyer, but thats the way it looks to me.

[Doe Eyes]

In other words, the little sign on the ladies restroom is discriminatory against men who think they are women.

I don't agree that's what the law says, nor is that the intent.

[Fichori]

"I don't agree that's what the law says, nor is that the intent."

I think the gays would disagree with you, and I think the activist judges would back them up.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[Albion Wilde]

Go to any sporting event in the country and you will see women using mens restrooms.

Yes, this is due to the age-old problem of building the same-sized restrooms for men and for women, when in fact women do need bigger restrooms with more stalls. Although I hear that in Europe they are trying to do away with urinals in men's rooms as well, because the very fact that they exist offends feminists.

Even if they mandated all stalls for both genders, women would still need more toilets than men because they have to go more frequently due to their unique plumbing and reproductive functions.

What's that old saying? — "We can put a man on the moon but"... we can't build women's restrooms that move the line along equally with men's.

[philetus]

In a free country, nobody has the right to tell us what to believe—or to punish us for putting our First Amendment rights into practice.”

We do not have a free country any more.

[Fichori]

We are on that slippery and evil slope.

Front row seats to the American Finale: Free.

Getting to see the look on the liberals faces when they find out what American patriots are really like: Priceless.