Transgendered Bathroom/Locker debate

lol, believe it or not I'm more on your side than the other when it comes to this issue.

I think the shock and awe of people reacting to it is based in part on the environment of fear our elected officials have created in the US.  If you let your kid play outside she will be kidnapped.  If you talk to a stranger, he will murder you and your whole family.  If you let a male into a female bathroom he will rape and kill everyone.
When it comes to public restrooms I've been using mens restrooms my whole life and I can't think of a single time I've ever seen a guy standing naked in one.  There could very easily be a woman in the stall next to me and I'd have no idea.
Sure, locker rooms are a little more exposed because people are fully dressing and undressing but from what my wife tells me about the women's locker room they're not galavanting around naked (contrary to my fantasies) like the guys do.  So perhaps, after a visit to the guys locker room a female to male transgender may very well be scarred for life as I have been.  lol

I certainly have my opinions on same sex attraction and transgender issues, but I will do everything I can to fight the false stereotype that good people are sexual deviants and cause a risk to others simply because of their gender attraction or identity.  That's just stupid.
Yes, there are gays and transgenders that are sexual deviants, but they're a minority and no different than the straight sexual deviants.  So, for lawmakers to enact legislation and people to react as if everyone is a sexual deviant is flawed logic.

If men are allowed in the women's locker room there will likely be some beating going on, but I don't think it's in the same way your friend thinks.  

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  You ever walk into a woman's restroom by mistake?  Yeah, beatings indeed. 

I don't think this is an issue......and for sure I'm not about to speak for women and what they want/think....because I know better....and have the knots on my head to prove it. 

Think rationally about this for a minute.....so the fear is that a man will dress as a woman and something terrible will happen?  Uh.....what would stop some idiot from doing that now?  Are there beatings in bathrooms that I'm not aware of?  Lots of idiot men putting on wigs, a dress, and some heels to check out the scenery in the woman's room?? 

Chi - your friend's a bonehead.

The only potential issue that I can see is we need to educate our kids about gender identity issues.....it's not something that parents commonly talk about with their kids when teaching about sex issues.....at least it hasn't been my experience that they do.  Then again, I may not be giving kids enough credit.....they're generally smarter then I realize.

I go to Lifetime fitness and every couple of years they redo the tile in the showers.  The tile crew is all men, so they do the mens locker first and then they switch them so the guys use the womens locker room for a couple weeks while they work on that one.
The first time they did it I half asleep walked to the entrance to the mens locker room and read the sign that said "womens locker room".  I just stood there not knowing quite what to do.  Three other guys walked up and all three of us just stood there frozen.  After a delay we cautiously walked over to the womens locker room (now mens) and tried egging each other on to go in first.  Finally, we all went in and it was like a playground.  There were guys yelling from the toilet area saying something like "they get vending machines in the toilet? WTF".  Then somebody else was commenting about how it's not fair that they get separate changing areas.
It was quite a surreal experience.  lol

When I used to swim at a nearby gym, there were four or five times while I was swimming that I saw some poor guy inadvertently walk into the women's locker room from the pool.  I could usually sense when this was about to happen since he'd have to walk past the men's entrance to end up at the women's.  My favorite time was when some guy had obviously just made the acquaintance of a gal in the spa and was all excited and walking and talking with her as she strolled into her locker room.  That one was priceless.  Every time the exact same thing happened next.  Maybe six or seven seconds after going in, he'd come briskly walking back out, head down, tail between his legs, with a very serious, guilty expression on his face, making a beeline towards the men's locker room entrance.  I'm amazed I didn't drown watching it happen one of those times because I'd be laughing so hard with my face down in the water.

As far as the whole transgender bathroom thing, I really don't see a big issue with it.  It's been the state law for schools here for a couple of years or so, and neither one of my kids has seen or heard any issues at their schools.  Fast forward a couple of decades and maybe we'll see common locker rooms / restrooms in general.  Or not.  Who knows?

When I was at a public pool in a small town in Switzerland there was just a single locker room for both men and women. There were private stalls within this locker room but people didn't even use them, everyone just changed their clothes in front of each other. I wonder how they feel about the transgender bathroom debate.

Yeah, and I think that's the rub, as I stated.  BUT, I don't think the answer is "they may not be able to handle it"......I think the answer is we need to educate them so that they can handle it.  I think that can be done. I'm not afraid of having that discussion with kids, and I'm OK with it.......I just never realized I needed to.

Actually, no.....I would start with the premise that there was no mistake, anymore then it's a "mistake" then the one where my godson was born with his esophagus connected to his lungs and his windpipe to his stomach......no mistake, just nature....it's not hard to find other examples.  It's nature......it's doesn't have to be complicated with doctrine or "norms".

I'm actually on board with many parts of the overall tolerance movement because it honestly doesn't matter if it's nature or nurture.  What matters is that we're all decent human beings towards each other.

I think one of the issue we have with this debate is that there must be justification for why someone feels uncomfortable.  Just as the Transgender person feels uncomfortable with changing or using a bathroom that their gender identity is not associated with, a normal person feels uncomfortable changing in front of someone of the opposite sex.  Neither is wrong or right.  And there is no good solution.  But the idea that there must be some nefarious fear tied to the feeling of discomfort is the biggest problem.  That minimalizes a persons feelings and is not o.k. 

I personally don't care where I change at the gym.  You could put me in the middle of the free weight area and if that is where I have to change, so be it.  But I do not want my daughter having to change with men.  I shouldn't have to either.  There are locker rooms for people with male parts, and there are locker rooms for people with female parts.  Pretty simple.  

So I would not be normal?  I couldn't care less who I change in front of.  I can certainly understand your concern for your daughter around men....and if you are not comfortable then it is what it is.  I'm just trying to figure out how the fact that I don't care at all makes me not normal.  Wait......did you just "minimalize my feelings"? 

What if we quit using "male" and "female" to designate restrooms.  Let's go with "penis" and "vagina"......nobody gets offended and the little pictures for people who don't read English would be worth the price of admission. 

Dude, the world has never been simple. And modern technology is only muddling it further. This is Buck Angel. Google his name with your safesearch setting turned off and you'll see that he still very much has the vagina he was born with. I think it's safe to say that you, your daughter, and Buck would all all feel a lot more comfortable if he was not changing in the same locker room as everyone else with a vagina.

(buck angel.jpg)

Originally posted by chirunner134 Yeah I like to use Bailey J and Buck Angel for my are you gay or straight test. .

What would Buck Angel, and whoever the other person is you mention,  possibly have to do with being gay or straight?  I don't get it.