[Commentary] [TX, USA] Bathroom bogeyman
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Stephanie Stevens
Aug 29, 2015, 10:02:57 AM8/29/15
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Houston Chronicle, TX, USA
Editorials
Bathroom bogeyman
Scare tactics about the HERO ordinance are beneath the dignity of this great city.
August 28, 2015 | Updated: August 29, 2015 12:03am
Texans who grew up in Dallas and San Antonio are probably familiar with the Magic Time Machine, a chain of restaurants known more for their manufactured mayhem than for the quality of their food. They'll likely recall that when they needed to go to the restroom, a waiter took them by the hand and led them through the dining room, all the while shouting "Potty patrol! Potty patrol!" Laughter invariably ensued.
If we believed that Jared Woodfill, the former head of the Harris County Republican Party, and his fellow opponents of the Houston Equal Rights Amendment were truly concerned about the likelihood of transgender ogres lurking in public restrooms, as they claim in their over-the-top radio ads, we would suggest that Houston restaurants be required to offer a potty patrol service. Of if that's too gauche for this sophisticated trans city - transnational we mean - may we suggest, a la Paris, Rome and London, the required presence of restroom attendants, individuals paid to spend their working hours in public restrooms, with a saucer near the wash basin where patrons deposit tips.
The fact is, Woodfill and company are not concerned that men dressing up as women are just waiting for HERO to pass - and, we presume, for the annual women's apparel sale at Nordstrom - so they can don skirts, blouses and high heels and assault women and girls in public bathrooms. Their aim is to defeat an ordinance that partially benefits gay and transgendered Houstonians, people whose lives they can't accept. If they can stir up the general public with scare tactics that border on the absurd, then so be it; they will have saved Houstonians from surrendering to the creeping acceptance of what they believe to be a deviant lifestyle. They ought to be ashamed of themselves, and anyone persuaded by their cynical ploy should be too.
The so-called HERO measure on the November ballot is designed to protect people against discrimination in employment, housing and other sectors. HERO protects gay and transgender people but also bans discrimination based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information. It also bans discrimination based on family, marital or military status. Woodfill and friends focus on the bathroom menace because they calculate that it borders on legitimate concerns about sexual predators and thus will spill over.
"Nothing in the equal rights ordinance changes the fact that it is - and always will be - illegal to enter a restroom to harm or harass other people," Richard Carlbom with the pro-ordinance Houston Unites campaign told the Chronicle.
In addition, none of the states and municipalities that have had anti-discrimination ordinances for years reports any evidence of the kind of abuse or assaults that the Houston opponents are predicting. Minnesota, for example, began prohibiting discrimination against transgender people more than 20 years ago. A Minneapolis police spokesman told Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg that sexual assaults from the 1993 law were "not even remotely" a problem, and that a police department inquiry found "nothing" in the way of such crimes in the city. Iowa, New Mexico, Maine and Hawaii are among more than a dozen jurisdictions that also report no problems.
Whether Houston needs an anti-discrimination ordinance has been and continues to be a legitimate topic for citizens to debate. We happen to believe it will be good for Houston; others argue that it's superfluous, that protections for some groups already are extended by federal law. Those polar perspectives represent an argument worth having, whereas the bathroom bogeyman claim is beneath the dignity of this great city. We really don't need Woodfill and his anti-HERO pals playing potty patrol for us.
Copyright 2015 Houston Chronicle
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Bathroom-bogeyman-6472351.php
Editorials
Bathroom bogeyman
Scare tactics about the HERO ordinance are beneath the dignity of this great city.
August 28, 2015 | Updated: August 29, 2015 12:03am
Texans who grew up in Dallas and San Antonio are probably familiar with the Magic Time Machine, a chain of restaurants known more for their manufactured mayhem than for the quality of their food. They'll likely recall that when they needed to go to the restroom, a waiter took them by the hand and led them through the dining room, all the while shouting "Potty patrol! Potty patrol!" Laughter invariably ensued.
If we believed that Jared Woodfill, the former head of the Harris County Republican Party, and his fellow opponents of the Houston Equal Rights Amendment were truly concerned about the likelihood of transgender ogres lurking in public restrooms, as they claim in their over-the-top radio ads, we would suggest that Houston restaurants be required to offer a potty patrol service. Of if that's too gauche for this sophisticated trans city - transnational we mean - may we suggest, a la Paris, Rome and London, the required presence of restroom attendants, individuals paid to spend their working hours in public restrooms, with a saucer near the wash basin where patrons deposit tips.
The fact is, Woodfill and company are not concerned that men dressing up as women are just waiting for HERO to pass - and, we presume, for the annual women's apparel sale at Nordstrom - so they can don skirts, blouses and high heels and assault women and girls in public bathrooms. Their aim is to defeat an ordinance that partially benefits gay and transgendered Houstonians, people whose lives they can't accept. If they can stir up the general public with scare tactics that border on the absurd, then so be it; they will have saved Houstonians from surrendering to the creeping acceptance of what they believe to be a deviant lifestyle. They ought to be ashamed of themselves, and anyone persuaded by their cynical ploy should be too.
The so-called HERO measure on the November ballot is designed to protect people against discrimination in employment, housing and other sectors. HERO protects gay and transgender people but also bans discrimination based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information. It also bans discrimination based on family, marital or military status. Woodfill and friends focus on the bathroom menace because they calculate that it borders on legitimate concerns about sexual predators and thus will spill over.
"Nothing in the equal rights ordinance changes the fact that it is - and always will be - illegal to enter a restroom to harm or harass other people," Richard Carlbom with the pro-ordinance Houston Unites campaign told the Chronicle.
In addition, none of the states and municipalities that have had anti-discrimination ordinances for years reports any evidence of the kind of abuse or assaults that the Houston opponents are predicting. Minnesota, for example, began prohibiting discrimination against transgender people more than 20 years ago. A Minneapolis police spokesman told Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg that sexual assaults from the 1993 law were "not even remotely" a problem, and that a police department inquiry found "nothing" in the way of such crimes in the city. Iowa, New Mexico, Maine and Hawaii are among more than a dozen jurisdictions that also report no problems.
Whether Houston needs an anti-discrimination ordinance has been and continues to be a legitimate topic for citizens to debate. We happen to believe it will be good for Houston; others argue that it's superfluous, that protections for some groups already are extended by federal law. Those polar perspectives represent an argument worth having, whereas the bathroom bogeyman claim is beneath the dignity of this great city. We really don't need Woodfill and his anti-HERO pals playing potty patrol for us.
Copyright 2015 Houston Chronicle
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Bathroom-bogeyman-6472351.php
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