The Religious Right's Potty Paranoia

[marmar]

from Mother Jones:




The Religious Right's Potty Paranoia
Why social conservatives are freaking out over a proposed law to protect gay rights in the workplace.

— By Stephanie Mencimer

Wed Dec. 9, 2009 2:59 AM PST


The next big culture war battle is about to be waged in an unlikely place: the restroom. After many years, Congress may finally have the votes to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The measure, which the Obama administration views as key to advancing gay rights, would ban workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transgendered people. But Christian right groups are fighting the legislation—on the grounds that it would force businesses to allow transgendered and "transitioning" men and women to use opposite-sex restrooms or face lawsuits from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The Traditional Values Coalition, a major foe of ENDA, has written a lengthy report on the potential dangers of the legislation, and the bathroom crisis is high on the list. As proof of the coming bathroom integration, it cites a Seattle incident in which two women who were taking male hormones were thrown out of a men's room at the Washington convention center. The women were staging a "pee-in" as part of a Gender Odyssey Conference, but TVC sees "she-men" invading the hallowed confines of men's restrooms everywhere should ENDA pass.

In talking points issued to ENDA opponents, Liberty Counsel, the conservative public interest firm associated with Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, warns:

ENDA mandates that employers give access to shared facilities, such as restrooms and other similar facilities for those who are of the same sex, but have an opposite gender identity (i.e. a male identifying as female), or of those who have notified their employer of an ongoing gender transition (i.e. a male transitioning to a female). Those employees would be allowed to share restrooms and other similar facilities with members of the opposite sex.

Peter LaBarbera, president of the anti-gay group Americans for Truth, has called ENDA the "Transgendered Bathrooms for Business" bill. He frets on his website that women will be forced to share facilities with "a big-boned man claiming to be 'transitioning' to 'womanhood.'" He writes, "Biologically-born ladies, beware!" ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/12/religious-rights-potty-paranoia

[peacebird]

1. Perhaps we can ENDA this discussion by making all bathrooms unisex like some places in Europe?

Have sinks as you walk in , then stalls, and beyond that the urinals. Everyone was adult enought o mind their own business and it seemed quite practical to me...
on edit - it might make Larry "Wide Stance" Craig uncomfortable, not knowing if the stlll next to his was a a guy or gal but... ;-)

[marmar]

3. Yep. I remember walking into the bathroom in Galeries Lafayette in Paris and seeing women......

..... and being a bit apprehensive because I'd never experienced it before, but to everyone else it was very normal (except the North American tourists, of course). But after a couple of days, I got quite used to it - the single-sex bathrooms seemed odd.

[old mark]

7. Yeah - Ol' Larry might make a mistake, try to pick up a woman.... nt

[ElboRuum]

2. He "frets"?

Why are these people always fretting about something? Why does everything HAVE to lead to dancing, metaphorically speaking? Is it not possible that we all just want to take a piss?

[sam sarrha]

4. It is a euphemism .. or a politically correct word for "Hate'n "... a primary food group for Fundi'...

[NMMNG]

6. All of those whackjobs

like to think every gay/lesbian person in the world wants to bed them. I mean, really, we do have taste.

[RC]

22. Because they are paranoid. They are afraid of change.

If the proposed change would be from unisex rest rooms to separate facilities, then they would be against that. The excuse would be homosexuals would be free to do their thing or whatever.

[NMMNG]

5. Oh FFS

Peter LaBarbera, president of the anti-gay group Americans for Truth, has called ENDA the "Transgendered Bathrooms for Business" bill. He frets on his website that women will be forced to share facilities with "a big-boned man claiming to be 'transitioning' to 'womanhood.'"


We have far more to fear from men claiming to be "religious" than we do anybody who is transgender. I've never heard of a single case of a transgender person abusing a woman or a child. I hear of at least a dozen new cases of women and children being abused by clergy every week.

[sam sarrha]

12. it is because Reich Wingers Brains have different Dominant regions than ours... thus ..Links>>

they live in a different world. they are incapable of understanding a "Bigger Picture". or beyond the Tribal Domain. their Consciousness is limited to a 9 year old play ground bully's.

this is fairly new science, based on PET Brain Scans. the scans reveal activity in certain regions of the brain.. but one can basically talk with a person and draw out the dominate regions of their brains on paper.

there is a physical organic cause of Bigotry, Racism and Hate/Fear based perceptual formats.. there are also pretty good preventable reasons for this behavior. it is all Cause and Effect. it is preventable.. but changing it is difficult and takes a year or 2 or 3 ... if ever. i know, i did it using Meditation, fascinating

http://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Brain-Life-Obsessiveness/dp/0812929985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260625691&sr=1-1

this book is not about religion it is about, and teaches Meditation..
http://www.amazon.com/How-Changes-Your-Brain-Neuroscientist/dp/0345503414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260625730&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Believe-Science-Ordinary-Extraordinary/dp/0743274989/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260625816&sr=1-5

[NMMNG]

14. Thanks for the recommendations

I'll check them out. :hi:

[Hubert Flottz]

8. Terra-ists in the toilet!

I'm afraid to stop at a rest area for fear of an attack from Larry Craig!

[Cerridwen]

9. Almost identical to the argument used agains the ERA.

"Women will have to share the toilets with men!!!! OMG!!!"

Well, at least they recycle something.

(Puuuhhhhlease tell me I'm not the only one old enough to remember that)

[NMMNG]

13. Much like

the arguments against same-sex marriage are recycled arguments from the battle against interracial marriage. They're hateful but they're not bright or original.

[Cerridwen]

15. Apparently they're "bright" enough to use what keeps working.

They may not be original, but that may be because their audience keeps "buying" it. Why keep re-writing new material when the old appeals so well to basic fears of difference and "other."

Sad, isn't it.

[NMMNG]

17. True

They appeal to the basest of instincts; fear and greed.

[Louisiana1976]

16. I also remember that. :)

[Cerridwen]

19. Thank you! :)

[LARED]

10. If women start using men's bathrooms will

there need to be signs posted regards courtesy flush standards?

[dysfunctional press]

18. absolutely not.

you enter the men's room at your own peril, ladies...

[Cirque du So-What]

11. The religious right has made this country

one of the most sexually-repressed places on earth, but it's one of the most sexually-OBSESSED places as well.

Thanks, prudes, for making America a laughingstock among civilized nations.

[dysfunctional press]

24. it's not really the 'religious right' that got the ball rolling...

but they definitely keep it in play.

[CAG]

20. If they just took that advice of David Vitter and wore a diaper, there should be no

issue

[Kip Humphrey]

21. Penis - - - No Penis restrooms... Problem solved.

[dysfunctional press]

23. i doubt that the pre-op population is going to be satisfied with something like that.

that's not a penis...it's just a really big clitoris...with a urethra running through it.

but then...unless they take the doors off the stalls like in high school...who's gonna know? and why should anyone care?
what difference does it make, who's in the stall next to you? (unless of course, you're planning on soliciting them for something...right, larry?)

[ensho]

25. kick

nt

[juno jones]

26. Why am I feeling a sense of deja vu?

Personally I think congresspeople should use separate bathrooms from the rest of us. That'll cut down on bathroom predation by 50%, you betcha.