PEE HERE NOW
Ms. Lehmann (8/22), So, you're a tolerant person? You've argued for equal rights for gay couples, you've seen cross-dressers, you've danced at gay pride parades %G�—%@ you're even from the Bay Area. You're so progressive! But, of course, you just can't pass up the opportunity to make a little fun at "Joe Shmoe, the transgender barber," can you? Hey, that's all right. I mean, nobody would think someone as broad-minded as you would mean any harm by a light-hearted crack or two about someone a little "bizarre."

Other people, people not as forward thinking as you, might not be so good-humored, though. Transgender men and women suffer a statistically high number of hate crimes, even higher than that of biological women and girls. The transgender woman you would insist "piss in [her] own bathroom" runs a very high risk of also undergoing such horrors as violent rape and death.

Psychopaths do target women and young girls. You're right about that. I wonder, though, how so many other countries in this world can have unisex bathrooms without the serious problems you envision? If you think the current system of segregated bathrooms means no one has to "scope" out bathrooms now, that they're all perfectly safe, I'd love to know where you live. It's not a safe world for anyone, but for some it's even worse.

And Ms. Lehmann, if you really think you're such a tolerant woman ’¡Äwell, I suggest you hang out at few more gay pride parades. But maybe you should go to the bathroom before you leave your house.

D. Haraburda
Eugene

 

CAN'T STOP JERKS
Regarding opening women's bathrooms to transgender women: While I agree with Paige Lehmann that the world is unsafe for women, I think her contention that sharing bathrooms with trans-women makes it even less safe is unsupportable. She appears to confuse transgender people who identify and live as women with abusive men in dresses. Her "what if?" scenarios seem fear-based, and, while not impossible, highly implausible.

It's more likely that the ones in danger are the transgender women currently using men's bathrooms, where they are vulnerable to harassment, slurs and physical violence. To address Paige's question: Why can't men piss in their own bathrooms? Because someone with male genitalia is not necessarily a man. Because men who transgress gender "norms" rightly fear male violence. Because until there are more bathroom alternatives than skirt- or pants-wearing stick figures, transgender people should be free to choose the door that most matches their gender identity.

In the meantime, what's to stop jerks in skirts from invading bathrooms? Perhaps a psychology that makes it unlikely for oppressor men to take on %G�—%@ publicly, no less %G�—%@ the trappings of the femininity they seek to dominate. Or maybe those who are already watching out for women and girls in an unsafe world and who will intervene in arguments, report abusive behavior to security or scream bloody murder when someone fucks with them. It is not how people express their gender but how they express their anger that is the real issue here.

Kristine DiPalma
Eugene 


PEE PEACE
There is no magic barrier that will keep bad guys out of a woman's room. You are overly optimistic if you think a bathroom door will keep you safe from an angry ex-boyfriend. Gender identity and/or gender presentation have nothing at all to do with sexuality, or criminality, for that matter.

Paige Lehmann (8/22) is lucky to be secure in her gender identity. I'm secure in mine %G�—%@ it's just not the same as the gender I was labeled as a newborn. We envy you bio-girls and bio-boys who, though maybe not happy with your breast or biceps size, are blissfully unaffected by conflict between your core identity and biological body.

Trans-people need safe space, too. A bathroom stall is often the most secure, private and public space, as Paige pointed out. Like it or not, everyone has to use the bathroom.

And trans people feel far more frightened of public bathrooms than you can possibly imagine %G�—%@ trans children, androgynous people who may not identify as trans, people who don't look like they were born to the gender they present. Our fear dwarfs your little shudder at the thought of using a stall next to someone in size 14 pumps.

Gender identity disorder is "incurable" in that no one has successfully aligned an identity to a birth gender. The body must be aligned to the identity. Life would be easier if everyone understood the horror of waking up in the wrong body and the courage it takes to face the world every day. But really, all we want is a safe place to pee.

Jesse Davis
Eugene