North Carolina has passed a law prohibiting cities and counties from protecting the rights of the LGBTQA community, including “bathroom laws” that allow trans people to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender identities. This will, among other things, force trans men to use the ladies’ room.
In the South, Segregated Restrooms Are Back
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
22 Comments. Leave new
Something similar happened in Apartheid-era South Africa. The way it worked, there were four “races” and two genders. If you had two or more people of any one of the four races, they had to have a separate bathroom, so you could have an office with 16 people that would have eight bathrooms. Don Woods, the journalist who was friends with Steve Biko (the movie “Cry Freedom” was made out of Woods’ writings), mentioned once that when archaeologists dig down into S. Africa in the far future, they are really, really going to wonder what intestinal problems the country had that it needed so many restrooms.
The answer, of course, is simple. If you’re scared to death of someone who isn’t a “boy” or a “girl” using your restroom, have all the restrooms converted to single-user ones. Tranny, straight, it all comes out the same in the end.
Per my comment above, while single user is fine, it’s not necessary. you very quickly adjust to not caring who is in the restroom with you. Why should you care, what, you’ve never seen someone of the opposite sex naked before? Anyway, it’s not like you see naked people in bathrooms.
Right. But my point was that if “someone” is worried about “the children” being exposed to something that “someone” isn’t comfortable with, the obvious solution is to simply make all bathrooms single-stall, one-person use, like they are at home.
That would, of course, require greater expense, which — I’m certain — “someones” would be happily willing to pay via their taxes because, as we all know, no expense should be spared to protect the “children.”
Put it to a “we need to tax the population to upgrade all bathrooms so three religious fanatics won’t freak out” vote and everyone will collectively say they really do not care, and that will be the end of it.
In almost every religious debate, you can win by simply framing the question in a way that requires the sanctimonious hypocrites to pay a little money to demonstrate their faith is genuine.
“Raise my taxes by a cent or allow a dildo-making workshop for the ninth graders? Well, I guess it’s a useful skill for them to learn … as long as my taxes don’t go up because I am, at my heart, a very religious person …”
Typical leftist prioritization. Hey Ted, how’s about before worrying about where transfolk can take a whiz, we worry about people being arrested for Existing While Trans* or just being targeted for violence way out of proportion to the general population – usually with the tacit consent or active participation of the “justice” system?
I’m quite sure Ted has in fact covered all that. As a point of interest, the college I went to, when I was there, had two single sex restrooms on the whole campus, in the basement of the library. In one of the dorms you actually walked through the bathrooms (coed) to get from hall to hall. So you might well come out of the shower and bump into a mixed sex group of people wandering through. The sauna was coed too. And faculty and students would go in together. No one wore bathing suits (well, except my girlfriend, who is now my wife) Anyway, nowadays even those two bathrooms are coed, the one that used to be the mens room is now marked “restroom with urinals.” š
Oh, I’m sure he has. Maybe I’m being unfair to Ted here, but seriously, this is a non-issue in comparison to what transfolk face everyday. It’s a low-effort, trivial feelgood issue which ultimately achieves nothing. Hell, I say let them have their fun, and when a really fugly black lady gets arrested because some chickenshit white lady called the cops, they can deal with the blowback from that.
In the meantime, there are more meaningful, more pressing matters to attend to.
It appears that Ted is using this particular story to comment upon continuously escalating reich-wing idiocy more than any specific trans issue.
In this case, the real issue is a government entity not simply passing laws to RESTRICT rights of its citizens, that is bad enough, but actually old hat in the exceptional ‘Murca. Now we have states reacting to over-ride laws passed by cities to specifically protect rights.
That is an unavoidable and appropriate “leftist priority.”
In addition, is it not obvious from the cartoon what the “justice” system will do with the people forced to relieve themselves in public by the “legal” system?
“In addition, is it not obvious from the cartoon what the ājusticeā system will do with the people forced to relieve themselves in public by the ālegalā system?”
Nothing worse than what merely walking down the street would subject them to, believe me.
As for the rest, I keep forgetting that Ted’s an old-school Marxist type, the kind that thinks that so long as the untermenchen are being kept down by enlightened, caring socialists it’s okay.
> the kind that thinks that so long as the untermenchen are being kept down by enlightened…
awww, and you were doing so GOOD, too.
I don’t suppose you can cite even one quote of Ted’s supporting your ludicrous comment? (any poster here? Any actual socialist, anywhere?)
“As for the rest, I keep forgetting that Tedās an old-school Marxist type . . .”
Fleming,
Ted doesn’t seem to be a Marxist to me. I may be the closest thing to an “old-school Marxist” that you will ever encounter. If you want to know a Marxist position or opinion, ask me.
Ted is more of a bourgeois social democrat. See the Wikipedia entry on social democracy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy
Okay, I could only find one cite close enough:
http://rall.com/2015/07/16/on-tokenism-in-politics
“Until we achieve emancipation, the oppressed would be far better off under the leadership of benevolent leftist WASPs than under the jackboots of evil right-wing trans lesbian disabled people.”
So you win…for now… š
Prole, I can’t help but feel we’ve been down this road before. So I’ll just take your word that there’s a difference.
Fleming,
Under a truly Marxist / communist system people like you and CrazyH would probably be shot.
Is that a big enough difference for you?
Yep – but you’d be safe. They just love ass kissers.
Dunno why you’re picking on Flaming Ballsac, Trole- you both believe that North Korea is everything a socialist state is meant to be.
I’d just as likely be shot in any system. You prove that you’re not an Evil Capitalist because that’s the lousiest sales pitch I’ve ever heard.
CH, under such a system, the ass-kissers are the first to go. No Maximum Leader likes potential competition.
Everybody worries about trans women using the women’s rest room. Does anyone honestly think it’d be safe for her to use the men’s?
I’ve seen grown men wave their dicks at little girls being escorted by their daddies into the only restroom daddy is allowed in by law.
Unisex facilities.
Nice to see you here, mein verehrter Lehrer ; you’ve been missed !… š
Henri
Now it’s LGBTQ – A?!! What the fuck does the “A” stand for?
There should be a rule that acronyms can have no more than 4 letters.
Some places haven’t added the A. I think it means ‘asexual.’ I’d look it up if I cared. Tired of Leftists toying with language.
Let me add to your confusion, prolecenter : http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/fashion/generation-lgbtqia.html ….
Henri
While we’re at it, I’ll remove a little confusion. LGBTQA is an abbreviation *not* an acronym. (confirmation is left as an exercise for the student)
Ted, can you confirm or deny my understanding that the two figures at the right of the pane are reliving themselves outside, as not being cis-anything, they can’t use the toilets (excuse me, for insulting those US body-function sensibilities ; please read Ā«restroomsĀ») ?…
Henri