Gender-neutral bathrooms; a different perspective.

[Dona Worry]

Recently I attended a sort of meet and greet for some local politicians. One has openenly and vocally spoke of the need for gender neutral bathrooms, especially in federal spaces.
A man stood up and ranted loudly for a few minutes, despite the moderator trying to shut him down, and loudly decried the 'modern generation ' for needing 'special accommodations ' and 'safe spaces' etc etc.
Finally, he sat down, and smugly challenged the representative to answer THAT!
The representative quietly stood up and said "There are parents with severely disabled children, that require assistance in the bathroom, often at mire than normal intervals, and if you happen to be a single parent-- or even temporarily without your other half-- and that adult child is a different gender than yourself, you deserve a bathroom to use and not feel as if you are trespassing. "

You could have dropped a pin. The guy who stood up to rant looked like he wanted to fall through the floor.
It is a well known fact, in these small towns, that the rep's brother is a widower and single parent. . . To a severely disabled girl.

 

[sourland]

The Princess and I once stopped at a rest area in Va. on our way home from Ga. I was waiting for her to exit the bathroom and noticed a man guide his wife to the Lady's room and then quickly enter the men's room. It was apparent that the woman had some 'problem' . No sooner did he enter the men's room until the woman came out of the Lady's room and start wandering off with a scared look on her face. I immediately notified an attendant who went to the lady and I then hurried into the men's room and notified the man about his wife. Yes, there is a need/place for gender neutral bathrooms.

 

[drumstick diva]

Except for the couple of times, I accidentally ventured into the men's room - bathrooms the way they are/were was okay for me. The worst things to happen was mother's taking their sons (not toddlers) in with them.

One time this kid was laying on the floor and sticking his head under the partition to take a gander at me. There was NO WAY his mother (in with him) didn't notice. In my nicest, threatening voice, I said "If you don't get your face out of here, I'm going to step on it."

Then his mother piped up and told him not to bother the lady. I was ready to crack up.
If she would have seen how small I was- she would have cracked up herself.

 

[Dona Worry]

The Princess and I once stopped at a rest area in Va. on our way home from Ga. I was waiting for her to exit the bathroom and noticed a man guide his wife to the Lady's room and then quickly enter the men's room. It was apparent that the woman had some 'problem' . No sooner did he enter the men's room until the woman came out of the Lady's room and start wandering off with a scared look on her face. I immediately notified an attendant who went to the lady and I then hurried into the men's room and notified the man about his wife. Yes, there is a need/place for gender neutral bathrooms.

This would have been a great, great thing when my grandmother was struggling towards the end of her life. She wasn't comfortable going out anymore unless my mother was there to help her with the bathroom, even though my grandfather could help her at home.

 

[Dona Worry]

Except for the couple of times, I accidentally ventured into the men's room - bathrooms the way they are/were was okay for me. The worst things to happen was mother's taking their sons (not toddlers) in with them.

One time this kid was laying on the floor and sticking his head under the partition to take a gander at me. There was NO WAY his mother (in with him) didn't notice. In my nicest, threatening voice, I said "If you don't get your face out of here, I'm going to step on it."

Then his mother piped up and told him not to bother the lady. I was ready to crack up.
If she would have seen how small I was- she would have cracked up herself.

I have zero respect for the sign on a bathroom door as it is lol-- if I REALLY need to pee and there is a line for the ladies and not for the gents, well, SORRY GUYS I'M COMING IN.
I have an overactive bladder, so sometimes it is literally a choice between wrong bathroom or wet my pants!

A gender neutral bathroom will not, at this stage in my life, have any impact of me whatsoever.
But I can appreciate that is would have an enormous impact on others, and that's enough for me to support it.

 

[1cock2hens]

gotta love the family bathrooms places like walmart have in a lot of there stores, very helpful

 

[sourland]

I have very little modesty or problem with body image, but it does bother me somewhat when fathers bring their daughters into the men's room, and I am standing there at the urinal. Adult women in the men's room no problem to me, but kids - yeah it's uncomfortable even though I understand the need for fathers to do this.

 

[drumstick diva]

One of the Target stores out here has 3 rest rooms, "count them and weep,". Of course I had to try out all three to see which one I liked best. One was a family bathroom, and the other two were the typical pair of men / women.

I have noticed the scarcity of bathrooms for folks in wheel chairs, even today. What are they supposed to do?

 

[oldrooster]

I read somewhere online a few years ago that apparently in some parts of Europe they have neutral restrooms only, and similar to what is in some theaters and stadiums here, meaning no doors between the hallway or lobby, you walk around a wall or two that prevents a possible peepshow to the world if someone is in dire need and starting to disrobe as they sprint to a stall, but the stalls all have doors that either leave no more than an inch or 2 at the bottom or have vent grates on them so there is very little chance of peepers seeing anything. IDK if there is a separate urinal area or if they are all individual stalls. But from what I read there are set up like in many large public restrooms a bank of sinks on the opposite wall, but some people seemed upset that someone proposed an area with no separate sink areas, but I was like unless your intimate parts are on the ends of your arms then why have wash basins segregated? the only thing I could think of is they wanted to take a sink bath in a public restroom....

 

[oldrooster]

To the mods please edit my previous post if needed I tried to my best to keep the phrasing to the standards for being family friendly.