New York: Girls' room his, too (Transgender men free to use ALL of MTA's loos)

The New York Daily News ^ | October 24, 2006 | PETE DONOHUE

[Stoat]

Girls' room his, too

 

Transgender men free to use ALL of MTA's loos

 

BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

 

Helena Stone, formerly Henry McGuinness, stands her ground yesterday outside Grand Central Terminal's ladies' room, which can now be used by transgender men.

The line for the girls' room just got longer.

Men who live as women can now legally use women's rest rooms in New York's transit system under an unprecedented deal revealed yesterday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to allow riders to use MTA rest rooms "consistent with their gender expression," the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced yesterday.

The group filed a complaint against the MTA on behalf of a 70-year-old telephone repair technician who was arrested for using the women's room at Grand Central Terminal.

The technician, who is assigned to the terminal by Verizon, was born Henry McGuinness but now goes by Helena Stone.

"I'm a 24-hour woman," Stone declared proudly. "I just feel like a woman and I like to wear women's clothes."

The MTA would not comment on the settlement but Stone's lawyer said it also includes mandatory transgender sensitivity training for MTA employees and a $2,000 payment to the technician for legal fees.

Michael Sullivan, Stone's lawyer, called the settlement of the complaint with the Human Rights Commission a "milestone" toward recognition of the city law that prohibits discrimination against transgender men and women.

But some Metro-North riders at Grand Central yesterday were stunned by the ruling.

"I would not like that," said Gloria David, a retiree from Connecticut. "I have nothing against gay men or drag queens, but they can use the men's room. I just don't want to go to the bathroom next to a man."

One rider feared predators might dress as women and lurk in the women's room.

But Rena Gantz, 23, a college student, shrugged off the settlement.

"It doesn't bother me because it is a reality," she said. "If they believe they are women, they should be treated as one."

[RepoGirl]

Excellent info, thank you.

Re: the funeral home story. Some people have ALL the luck. ;-)

[durasell]

It's gotta be an urban legend -- but I have been to more than 30 funerals at Frank E. Campbell and the story ALWAYS gets told. It's an enduring piece of NYC folklore.

[Caesar Soze]

Well, it was an attempt at a little humor, but since you brought it up, I like the odds. But, hey, maybe we should just let it go at how you like to dress.

That works as well as anything, if not better. I'm more interested in someone's behavior than their DNA or even their anatomy. Close the stall door, flush, wash your hands, and I don't care if you're a Marcab eight excretory pseudopods.

[Proverbs 3-5]

But Rena Gantz, 23, a college student, shrugged off the settlement. "It doesn't bother me because it is a reality," she said. "If they believe they are women, they should be treated as one."

OK Rena, whould you get on a plane piloted by someone who 'believed" they were a pilot but wasn't...?"

[NYCSteve]

I feel terribly sad for the ladies of New York who will now be even more terrified than usual. of 'their' transit system, and of the unspeakable evil that lurks within.

OK, let's not blow this totally out of proportion. The unspeakable evil here is the usual operating conditions of your average MTA restroom, which is not fit for use by man, woman, or anything in between.

Having said that, I don't get what the brouhaha is about. No rational person should believe there is any real safety in a public restroom in a NYC subway station. Whether the other occupants of the restroom are genetic or wanna-be females, you need to keep a close watch on your person and belongings. Remember, this isn't the restroom at your central-Kansas family restaurant where you chat with your girlfriends about, as one previous post mentioned, "female problems". This is a vile disgusting facility where no respectable woman should be spending time, anyway. I'm not sure if anyone who wants to use these restrooms should be rewarded for their bravery or condemned for their stupidity, but worrying about which room someone is going in is irrelevant.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

The reason that most politicians and people cave in to this crap is because they don't want to be taken to court and be sued, and up in Canada, if you even oppose or speak out against this crap or any of these perverted life styles, you can find your self in prison.
Most people don't speak up or against this crap because they don't want to lose their jobs, and the pervert and homo mafia knows what they are doing in embezzling money or power out of people.

[traditional1]

"Most people don't speak up or against this crap because they don't want to lose their jobs, and the pervert and homo mafia knows what they are doing in embezzling money or power out of people"

You are very close to the current situation; the PC-crowd, coupled with secular interest groups, have the activist Judges in their corner, and it is RISKY, to be sure, to speak out on the issues. That's where we've gone on this, and extortion from deep pockets is a game lawyers always play where they can label a target company or individual a "homophobe", "bigot", "racist", etc. and force large settlements to themselves at the expense of someone else.

I see the civil suit/class action suit as the means to re-distribute wealth, regardless of merit, and the courts continue to allow it.

I don't see Tort Reform ever occurring in my lifetime, either.

[Stoat]

I don't think that anyone here is so naive as to think that a public NYC restroom is a place of safety, just as nobody would consider a highway rest stop bathroom as being anything close to safe.  Whenever I'm on the road and am forced, through lack of a better option, into using one of those slime-pits, I make sure to go in well-armed which, unfortunately, is an option not usually available to NYC residents last time I checked. Actually, I and I think most others here would ordinarily consider a NYC public restroom far LESS safe than a typical highway rest stop.

The difference here is that in this case the restroom has been intentionally made even less safe by a dictate of city policy and law.  This is a HUGE departure from the previous status quo of the area being unsafe but allowing people forced into using them some degree of recourse if they should be harassed or victimized.

I think that what most people are objecting to in this matter is a needless coarsening of an already coarse culture.  Rather than making public facilities safer and better so that you don't HAVE to know all of the nearby restrooms in department and bookstores as other posters have mentioned, the MTA has bent to political pressure and fashion and made it so that these places are now a safe place for perverts only, and anyone who dares to object has no legal standing whatsoever.

I don't think that this ruling makes New York City a nicer, cleaner, safer, or friendlier place; quite the contrary.  It's an additional lowering of long-accepted standards and a further flight from normalcy as a result of a spineless retreat from the shrill voices of political correctness.

[Lauren BaRecall]

But some Metro-North riders at Grand Central yesterday were stunned by the ruling.

BUT *I* USE THAT BATHROOM!!! THIS IS SICK!!!

[Stoat]

But some Metro-North riders at Grand Central yesterday were stunned by the ruling.

BUT *I* USE THAT BATHROOM!!! THIS IS SICK!!!

Yes, and now you have the privilege of sharing it with whatever pervert or pervert wannabee who can buy a 50-cent dress from Goodwill (or, as suggested by the pictures accompanying this article, by any pervert who wears men's clothing and merely calls themselves a 'woman').. Doesn't that make you feel safe?  If it doesn't, too bad.  It's a matter of law now, and if you dare to object you will be found guilty of Hate Speech and the ACLU lawyers will insure that your career is destroyed and your bank account drained.  Have a nice day and thank you for using Public Transportation.

But some Metro-North riders at Grand Central yesterday were stunned by the ruling.

BUT *I* USE THAT BATHROOM!!! THIS IS SICK!!!

[Lauren BaRecall]

Of course I see your point, and I agree.

This guy didn't even have a sex change operation! And he looks so feminine! NOT!!!!

ARGH!!!

[Stoat]

Of course I see your point, and I agree.

This guy didn't even have a sex change operation! And he looks so feminine! NOT!!!!

Would it have made a difference to you if he had gone under the knife?  Forgive me for putting words in your mouth, but I'm guessing that it would not, because we all know that merely cutting off and reattaching body parts does not a woman (or a man) make.  In either case, we are dealing with someone who is insane and needs medical treatment, not widespread societal accommodation and a special set of rights which only serves to make the world more frightening and far less hospitable to everyone else.

You, as a normal, healthy and sane woman deserves to have Government and Society oriented toward your needs and to the needs of normal, healthy and sane Americans, not to the criminals, the insane, and the perverts.

Have you ever thought of moving to Montana?  I have.....I doubt very much that they would put up with this kind of garbage in Helena.

ARGH!!!

Agreed.  Please tell all of your friends in New York about this, as I'm guessing that it won't get a huge amount of play in the local press....it would be regarded as 'hateful', after all, to focus attention on these poor souls who mean nobody any harm.......

(you appear to be insightful enough to not require a 'sarcasm' tag)

[word_warrior_bob]

So now some pervert who wants to peek up the skirts of women can slip on a dress and come on in.

This world makes me sick.

---

We should all carry women's wigs with us now and go en-masse to the ladies room, that would show them how silly they are, PROVE I'M NOT "TRANSGENDER"! lol

[HereInTheHeartland]

The mighty Roman Empire also rotted from within.

[word_warrior_bob]

I remember one time where I "HAD" to use a subway restroom and it was indescribable, it was like the scene in "Trainspotting".

I'm disgusted just remembering it now, but we're talking a super emergency stomach virus situation, words can't describe. The city is a lot better if you're rich.

[darkangel82]

IIIICCK! What is that thing?

[Stoat]

IIIICCK! What is that thing?

It is the modern, 'enlightened' face of Liberalism, and it now is lawfully permitted to share a NYC public restroom with your 12 year old sister, daughter or niece..  If you dare to object, you will be .branded a homophobe, convicted of Hate Speech, stripped of your bank account, your professional licenses and your life will be essentially destroyed.

.

[Stoat]

The mighty Roman Empire also rotted from within.

And Democracy was, in theory, an antidote to such a fate. We may not have progressed quite as far as we had thought.

[paulat]

And that would make you feel better about yourself in what way?

Dukat...I agree with you...but your start date of 10/22/06 is not a good start on this post.

[darkangel82]

He'll get the zot soon.