Re “Common sense can end restroom debate,” Sept. 14: (Privacy for all.) The writer suggests bathroom stalls have partitions, with a sign on the door noting it’s a urinal or a sit-down toilet, is a common-sense approach to the transgender bathroom issue. The writer notes some diaper-changing areas and handicapped-accessible bathrooms were retrofitted out of human dignity and respect, some even before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Yes, maybe some.
While I 100 percent agree with this educator, common sense and human dignity don’t always prevail. Homophobia and transgender bias, and yes, hate, are alive and well.
I’d venture to say that many businesses were forced to adapt to be ADA compliant.
Now factor in religiosity. We have a baker who won’t sell a cake to the sinful, a government employee refusing a marriage license, some clergy who won’t marry for the same, Chick-fil-A turning a chicken sandwich into religious freedom. We have thousands who will fight tooth and nail, partition by partition, on the grounds of religious freedom. Compound that with the cost of retrofitting bathrooms.
But just as society disagrees, so do our legislators. Where do we go from here? GARY NEWCOMER, KETTERING
No sense in columnist’s bathroom solution
Re “Common sense can end restroom debate,” Sept. 14: Less than one half of 1 percent of the U.S. population identifies themselves as transgender, and yet columnist Nancy Woeste believes we should modify every public restroom in the country to accommodate them. She doesn’t mention public locker rooms and showers. Aside from that idea which she calls “common sense,” Woeste says relieving oneself is not a sexuality issue and so it doesn’t matter whether the person on the other side of the stall is male or female. Really? Another test of logic is that she implies taking turns in the bathroom at home is essentially equivalent to that.
Finally, in response to the question of whether young boys and girls are ready to share public bathrooms, Woeste says we need to adopt the mindset of respect and courtesy for all individuals by having parents and teachers teach children the appropriate social skills to do so i.e. respecting people’s privacy and personal space.
Has Woeste been living in the Twilight Zone? We have kids making and sharing provocative pictures and videos of themselves and sharing them with others. We’ve essentially give up the concept of abstinence before marriage. We’ve thrown men and women together in the military, established co-ed dorms at colleges and universities and other places. The statistics on sexual assault are alarming and in the news constantly.
Earth to Woeste, natural human sexuality, sexual desires and preferences are the primary reasons separate facilities were created in the first place. Woeste wants parents to teach children to behave properly in all-sex restrooms when we can't even rely on parents to prepare their kids to attend kindergarten and we need extensive pre-K programs to try to do that. Woeste may have an idea, but it certainly isn't based on common sense. JOSEPH BRAFFORD, BEAVERCREEK
SpeakUp
Nancy Woeste's commentary on Sept. 14 on common sense about transgenders makes no common sense. The common-sense action on transgenders would be to not take any action. Just leave our restrooms alone and let nature take its course. If I am not making this clear, males should use men's rest rooms and females should use ladies' rest rooms. Period. Everything in this subject should be based on what you are — not what you want to be or some figment of your imagination — period! Common sense prevails.
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