Separate Bathrooms for Boys and Girls = Discrimination

I read this story on foxnews that in Maine, a human rights commission says that forcing a boy or a girl into separate rooms such as bathrooms or locker rooms amounts to discrimination in schools. Evidentially, a trans-gendered boy was denied access to the girls bathroom and after complaining to the Maine Human Rights Commission, they concluded that it violated the Maine Human Rights Act. I personally think that this is a crock of horse manure and there needs to be separate facilities for the different sexes. In my area where my office is located, we have a unisex bathroom and I can honestly tell you that nothing is more embarrassing to have a nursing student walk in after my lunch from Chilino's, a local Mexican restaurant that serves up some of the best fish tacos, and it moves thru the stomach and out for processing. Separate bathrooms are indeed needed and all it took was one incident the other way, and now I just walk down the hall to the boys only restroom in order to save face.

I think that this could lead to some issues with pedophiles and others that are sick. As the article says, if the authors’ daughter walks into a bathroom and there is a man in there, they instinctively feel like something is wrong. Not only that, it could potentially lead to more sexual assaults, more instances of sexual inappropriateness, and increases in rapes in schools. I don't think the ramifications were thought out before the commission came to this conclusion. There needs to be a very defined line between what privacies are afforded to use the facilities. How creepy would it be if you are done playing girls volleyball and you go to the locker room only to find male basketball players gawking? Seriously, what are they thinking?

The other issue that I can see is if this is considered discrimination, what happens when the school needs to know your sexual orientation? Schools are prohibited from asking you, so how would they know if you are transgendered without asking? Is there a specific stereotype or profile that they fit? As Karen Kemble, the Director of Equal Opportunity from the University of Maine says, “The inability to ask proof of sexual orientation leaves the institution any way to determine the bona fide nature of the gender identity or nature.” Nature??? Aren’t we all born either boys or girls determined by nature? I know, it’s not the same thing, but I figured a wise crack would be funny.

So that leads me to my last point, all this is happening in Maine. The coldest, wettest, and northernmost state of the continental US. Have you ever met anyone from Maine? I have and I think they are a little off. I personally think that they spend too much time in their homes during the winter because of all the snow they get. The lack of sunshine can’t be good either. Good luck to them.