I am certainly voting “yes” on 3 — defensively. The non-discrimination law’s update moved in the right direction.
But I don’t like it. Because it still presumes segregation is reasonable and proper.
So much has changed in my 62 years. Cars, telephones, exploring the universe, social relations. But not restrooms — they’re the same as when I was in elementary school half a century ago. And there’s no app for that.
Stalls are still flimsy undersized panels showing everything below the knees, sharing every sound and smell. The gaps between panels are often wide enough to negate any modesty. And urinals? People standing shoulder to shoulder, staring at a spot on the wall directly in front of them, not speaking, out of respect for each other’s privacy.
This is easily solved: private stalls.
I’ve used a multi-stall, ungendered restroom. A wall of wash basins and mirrors on one side. A line of stalls on the other. Each stall is a closed, private room — floor-to-ceiling. Each marked with the specific facilities inside, so you can select one with a urinal, a raised bowl, a private wash basin as needed. All are “accessible.” No one has to hear or smell you. No need for inhibition about “going in public.”
When done, you join those at the washbasins, where the social aspects of restrooms can take place.
Why isn’t this the standard? Why is this one of the few areas of society where “separate but equal” segregation is still not just tolerated, but presumed, not just as custom but by law?
Sexism dies slowly. A “majority rules” vote on civil rights of a minority is offensive and un-American, as our democracy sits on a foundation of “inalienable rights.” Civil rights come not through expansion of the rights themselves, but of our understanding of “all men” as gender, race and property neutral.
America, it’s time to make our restrooms great! Because they stink!
Rivke Reid
Florence