New York city just became the latest in a string of major U.S. cities that allow transgendered individuals to use public restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, as opposed to…well, their actual gender.
NYC Major Bill de Blasio signed the executive order altering the city's anti-discrimination policy on Monday, unilaterally allowing the some 20,000 to 25,000 transgendered folks living in the Big Apple (according to city officials) – along with however many happen to visit the city any given day – to use the bathroom of their choosing, with “no I.D. required."
A Facebook post accompanying the order and posted on de Blasio’s official Facebook page boasts:
In New York City, we value diversity. We welcome everyone. We respect the rights of all—regardless of religion, immigration status, sexual orientation...or gender identity. And we do not tolerate discrimination.
Indeed, New York respects the rights of all – except, apparently, women who want to use the restroom without a guy in it, young girls who may want to change in locker rooms without a man watching, or men who may find it uncomfortable when they're standing at a urinal and a female walks in.
Then again, this is the same city that imposes a $250,000 fine for not using a person's "preferred name, pronoun or title." The city already allows transgendered public school students to use the bathroom corresponding with their gender identity.
So transgendered people are welcome. Anyone made uncomfortable? Not so much.
New York City's new ordinance follows a long line of states and cities grappling with the same debate over LGBT “rights” and often-divided public opinion. The city council of Charlotte, N.C. recently passed a similar anti-discrimination rule that allows transgender people to use the restroom of their choice – a move that many in the state legislature have vowed to overturn. (According to Breitbart News, the new anti-discrimination bill was pushed by a group lead by a transgendered sex offender convicted of molesting a minor.)
In another example that garnered national attention, the governor of South Dakota just vetoed a bill that would have required transgender students to use restrooms and gym facilities that match their gender at birth. Because that just doesn't make sense.
While supporters of such bills champion the rights of a relatively small number of people who believe they were born in the wrong body, opponents say the new regulations will allow men to simply walk into restrooms and locker rooms used by women and young girls, no questions asked. And that argument isn’t without merit.
CNSNews.com reported last month that a man walked into a women’s locker room at a public pool in Seattle where young girls were changing clothes. The intruder apparently never identified himself as a transgendered individual, but cited the city’s open-bathroom policy as the reason for his presence. Despite clear discomfort by the females present, Seattle’s anti-discrimination clause doesn’t include stipulations that a person prove their transgender-ness to gain bathroom access, and no arrests were made.
But, #tolerance.