Bathroom Crimes on the Rise

By: Joe Mauricio

 

Some people take bathrooms for granted, but over history, the bathroom has been a place where rights are fought. For most people. going to a public bathroom is no big deal, except falling long lines particularly in women’s bathroom, they never have to think about it.

For transgender people, however, using public bathroom is complicated, and often dangerous, with reactions ranging from negative interactions, dirty looks, snide comments to physical violence.

A bill recently passed by the North Carolina state legislature put the issue of trans-restroom access back in the national spotlight. The NC governor had called the law a threat to public safety.

The Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 to expand protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, making it the latest frontier in a national debate on how businesses treat gay, lesbian and transgender customers. One of the revisions to the city’s non-discrimination ordinance allows people to choose restrooms corresponding to the gender which they identify. This action of allowing a person with male anatomy, for example, to use a female restroom will likely cause immediate intervention.

The question now is, would you allow your children to use public bathrooms, exposing them to possible physical or sexual harassment?

The consequences of such absurd ideas are predictable as sexual predators illustrate the dangers to vulnerable women. Just recently, a Seattle man began undressing at a public swimming pool’s women’s lockers, when a group of young girls were changing for their team practice. He was not arrested, as a result of Washington’s new law allowing “transgender” men to use women’s restrooms.

I use quotes around the term “transgender” because this man had no outward identifying statements to suggest he thought of himself as a woman.

Separating men and women when undressed helps provide physical and psychological safety, particularly for women and girls. Why risk triggering a powerful impulse to commit crime that could ruin lives–both victims and perpetrators–for the use of a bathroom?

This is just the beginning. For sure, we will hear more about this women’s restroom scenario in the days to come.