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Let me\u00a0see if I understand, with all the injustices facing humanity you\u2019re actually concerned with who uses what bathroom? I think your priorities are a bit messed up. I\u2019ll admit, centering on who can, and cannot, use a bathroom\u00a0understates some of the state laws being passed. Those laws go deeper than which restroom you use; they center on discrimination. Giving anyone the excuse to use their deeply held religious beliefs<\/em> to discriminate against another is wrong. It\u2019s sad those deeply held religious beliefs<\/em> don\u2019t come in handy when addressing issues of economic injustice, social injustice, or any of the many injustices facing humanity. But, let\u2019s look at how ridicules it is to worry about who uses what bathroom.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s A Dilemma<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> A single dad decides to take his little girl out for a Daddy and Daughter Lunch<\/em>. He loves the time he gets to spend with his little girl on days like this. They spend time drinking milkshakes. eating burgers, talking about My Little Ponies. <\/em>He loves hearing her little laugh\u00a0when he\u00a0blows\u00a0bubbles in his milkshake. Just before they finished eating their lunch his little girl did what is natural for all children her age, and let\u2019s just say it wasn\u2019t pleasant. Being a single dad, he knew he could handle this situation, after all he did it all the time. He picked-up his little girl, grabbed her diaper bag, and headed to the restroom to change<\/em> her. As he headed into the Men\u2019s Room he noticed it didn\u2019t have a changing table. The only changing table was in the Ladies Room.<\/p>\n What should he do? Should he go into the Ladies Room to change his daughter? Should he grab a strange female employee, or customer, to have them change her? What if, in the middle of changing her a women walked in on him? Should he be arrested, charged and fined, or placed in jail? After all, his birth certificate says \u201cmale.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s address some points: <\/strong> He asked:<\/strong> How do you know if someone is really \u201ctransgender\u201d or not?<\/em> He asked:<\/strong> What\u2019s the difference between someone with \u201cgender dysphoria\u201d (or, as it used to be called, \u201cgender identity disorder\u201d) and someone, say, with schizophrenia or \u201cmultiple personality disorder\u201d or some other psychological condition?<\/em> According to the DSM-5<\/a> [Changing to ICD-10], gender identity disorder <\/em>is no longer the term \u2013 it is called gender dysphoria. A <\/em>Dysphoria<\/a> is a profound state of unease or dissatisfaction<\/em> while a disorder<\/a> is a derangement or abnormality of function; a morbid physical or mental state<\/em>. Since most of the Transgender people I know don\u2019t have a morbid mental state<\/em>, I think he is way off base and pandering to his readers. Gender dysphoria, <\/i>is a way of helping people who question their identity to find a comfortable place, not to force them into living the binary-social structure of \u201cMale\/Female\u201d gender roles.<\/p>\n He asked:<\/strong> Let\u2019s take this one step further.\u00a0If any man who claims to be a woman can use women\u2019s bathrooms and locker rooms, then how do we keep the sexual predators out?<\/em> He asked:<\/strong> Do you think it might be traumatic for a little girl using the library bathroom to see this big man walk into her room wearing a dress and a wig? <\/em> Just a thought:<\/strong> \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let me\u00a0see if I understand, with all the injustices facing humanity you\u2019re actually concerned with who uses what bathroom? I think your priorities are a bit messed up. I\u2019ll admit, centering on who can, and cannot, use a bathroom\u00a0understates some of the state laws being passed. Those laws go deeper than which restroom you use; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2697,"featured_media":680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11,14,94,20,1],"tags":[22,29,33,38,56,59,61,67,83],"class_list":["post-677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grace","category-love","category-open","category-politics","category-theology","category-uncategorized","tag-abuse","tag-care","tag-church","tag-discernment","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-mercy","tag-positive","tag-unity"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nRecently, Michael Brown<\/a> wrote a response<\/a> to Bruce Springsteen canceling his concert in Greensboro, NC over HB2 [Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act<\/em> \u2013 a pretty impressive title for a bill that says where you can pee]. The law centers on transgender people and what public restroom they can use, based on the sex identified on their birth certificate. Now, I\u2019m not addressing anything Michael wrote as if I speaking for Bruce \u2013 I don\u2019t, but Michael\u2019s questions seemed to silly, I could not let some of them pass. I get a kick out of minister and theologians who write open letters<\/em> to famous people as if they actually expect the famous person to address their questions. Let\u2019s be honest, it should not be called a Open Letter To Bruce<\/em>, it should be called An Open Letter to Pander to The People Who I Am Trying to Impress<\/em>. Here are a few of the questions he asked Bruce.<\/p>\n
\nI Wonder:<\/strong> You don\u2019t \u2013 and that is the reality of the world. Why would it matter? If you can\u2019t tell if someone was \u201cborn one gender, but looks another\u201d why should it matter to you, or anyone? If you are unable to tell the difference, why should it matter? Could it be, you want to know so it would be easier to assault, insult, and discriminate against trans?<\/p>\n
\nI Wonder:<\/b> Michael holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, so I\u2019m pretty sure he is not qualified to make a diagnosis, or speak about the nuances between dysphoria<\/em> and disorder<\/em>, and Bruce is a musician \u2013 so to ask him to make a diagnosis seems even weirder.<\/p>\n
\nI Wonder:<\/b> Please, using a public restroom is a deeper safety concern for transgender people when it comes to predators. His question assumes that by making people use the bathroom assigned by their birth gender would stop all sexual predators, but we know that\u2019s not the case. This question is insulting, and plays into the twisted conservative idea that anyone who does not meet the social norms<\/em>, is by nature a pervert.<\/p>\n
\nI Wonder:<\/b> I don\u2019t know, would it be traumatic if some large women, wearing a wig and a dress, came in to use the restroom? I\u2019m wondering of this questions is designed to bet others\u00a0to envision a Bear walking into the bathroom with\u00a0poorly designed\u00a0low cut, off style mini-dress, with their hairy arms, chest and legs wearing an ill-fitting, off color, wig? But, even if that is the case, why should it matter?<\/p>\n
\nLet\u2019s be realistic, trans people use the restroom for the same reason we all use the restroom. I mean, do we truly desire to check out what others are doing in the restroom? I know I don\u2019t. Besides, if you\u2019re checking-out the genitalia of the person using the stall next to you, who\u2019s the\u00a0sexual predator\u00a0in the restroom?<\/p>\n