This is why we grieve....politics

Who doesn't love Buffalo? We can get into Ani Difranco next.

I met Elizabeth Kennedy at a conference in the 90s. And Madeline Davis -- well, she was one of the founders of HAG theater . . .

Wow.  You have legit credibility. I never realized the Hag reference!! Wow. I got all teary.

Thank you,

~E

I hear what you are saying, however, maybe there is another solution. I'm (Not just me but many many many many many people) just not comfortable sending my wife or daughter or sons into a bathroom where someone who was born of the opposite sex would be.

I guess with the situation you are in...we can agree to disagree.

Just as when the ADA came out, there weren't immediate changes that made all buidlings accessible, there were some...but some changes were phased in. Gender neutral bathrooms can be phased in over time.

The ADA needed to be phased in over time because ramps had to be built, wheelchair accessible bathrooms constructed, physical barriers removed, etc. Gender neuteal bathrooms require nothing physical to change. Not even the sign on the door.

Unless you have a magic wand that can make single use gender neutral bathrooms appear- then I think not; and on that note, if the ADA had to be phased in overtime, why should this be any different?

You, your wife, and your daughters and sons...everybody...has been sharing public restrooms with transgender people for decades without a single documented incident of problems for anyone except the transgender people. They have been assaulted and attacked by the 'good' guys with a disheartening frequency. They are actually MOST at risk from these assaults when they are "outted" either by happenstance or because they are in the restroom that would match the sex assigned at their birth. It literally places transgender people at risk of losing their lives to force them to out themselves via which bathroom they walk into.

They have been in your restrooms ALL ALONG. Not one incident. Decades of shared public restrooms. You are not in danger here.

Your ADA analogy would actually work like this.... All along all buildings have been accessible to handicap people. A few folks with no handicap complained to their Congressman that ramps and curb cuts were offensive to their religious beliefs. The Congressman did not know why the ramps and curb cuts were an issue since they had been there all along and had bothered no one but he tried to pass a bill to remove all accessibility ramps and curb cuts because he really wanted those people to vote for him again. The media started broadcasting scare segments about the "Dangers Lurking on the Ramps!" despite the fact that ramps and curb cuts had caused no one any harm and there was no issue. Conservative people watched the news and got scared and started saying they were scared for their daughters and wives to be around the ramps and curb cuts. 

Trump supporters often criticize the media for biased reporting intended to inflame not inform.  This is a prime example of that very thing happening. This was a non issue, a solution with no problem, until the media started chasing it down and blowing up the false image of the 'perverts in the bathroom.'

Are you going to bite their bait? Are you going to believe your family is somehow suddenly being threatened by where transgender people pee because the media sold you on the fear?

You can do better. I believe in you.

~Elizabeth

 

That's my Berry Sister I know and love. 

I thought the exact same thing. 

Thanks for sharing this T. I think it sums up how so many are feeling. I'm still grieving for what could have been. Also, working through the fact that what so many thought was going to be the end of something, is really just the beggining.  

Forest fire destroys.  But it also brings new beginning.  During the fire it is horrible. After the fiber things look dead and bare and ugly. Eventually new seedlings start growing. Old trees needed to be destroyed so new life can happen. 

I see Trump as fire in the country.  Hopefully the influence can be contained..if not - we are for a rough ride next 4 years... And maybe then the people will be ready for good things to come.