CARNAL NATION

What is it with transphobes and their obsession with bathrooms? Every time someone brings up the possibility of treating transsexuals like, say, human beings, the family values crowd goes screaming straight for the potty. Look at Massachussetts, for example. Recently a piece of legislation was introduced into the Masschusetts House of Representatives and State Senate called "An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes." The bill would add transgender and other gender non-conforming people to the state's anti-discrimination and hate crimes protections. Opponents call the legislation "the Bathroom Bill," (as in fact, they did with previous legislation in New Hampshire) and have created an entire website called NoBathroomBill.com based entirely on the idea that if passed, the law will "make whole segments of the population feel unsafe and exploit their privacy and security."

 The American Family Association's news site One News Now quotes Evelyn Reilly, director of public policy for the Massachusetts Family Institute, making some extremely portentous predictions about the consequences of making it illegal to discriminate against transgender people:

[I]f...a man believes or pretends to believe that he is actually a woman, then you could not question, challenge, or stop him from entering a woman's bathroom, shower, locker room, fitness facility, or whatever.

In other words, pass this bill, and your public restrooms will be swarming with child molestors, perverts, rapists, and deviants of the lowest kind.

The interesting thing is how often and how easily this argument comes up. It's not a new one; it was used back in the 70s to explain why civilization would collapse if the Equal Rights Amendment were passed, and it remains the first and most vocal argument against transgender rights. For some reason, they just can't stop thinking about the bathrooms. True, the toilet has sometimes been nicknamed the "throne," but does it have to be made holy? And if toilets have become so sacred to sexual conservatives, does that mean that Larry Craig is their pope?