I live on the northern edge of the Bible Belt in the U.S. Although Indiana isn't technically included in a map of those states that are considered above average in "religiosity", the state is controlled by Republicans whose leadership is hell-bent (pun intended) on forcing morality on its residents. That seems odd to me because we are a state of gun-toting, pick-up-truck-driving, beer-drinking rednecks whose whole mantra is based on the "shoot first and ask questions later" premise of law and order. They just want to be left alone in their own private little world of anarchy. I don't know how many Hoosiers actually go to church to follow what they claim to believe in, yet here is this state government telling them they can't buy alcohol on Sunday, can use Freedom of Religion as their constitutional right to discriminate against others, and now must treat the remains of a legal abortion or natural miscarriage as a life that has to be accounted for and cremated or buried. It just doesn't add up to me, yet there it is.
In my 28 years as a resident of the Hoosier State, I've witnessed many of these dichotomies, yet none seems as twisted and convoluted as the most recent teapot tempests that have arisen over gender rights. More specifically, homosexual/gender rights. It started with the whole same-sex marriage thing, and now has evolved into heated debates--even laws--about what bathrooms transgender people can/should use in public. (Thanks to Caitlyn Jenner for forcing this on us by being such a public figure.) Ugh!
I note, with interest, that many--if not most--men are secretly turned on by female-on-female porn. That's okay. That's sexy. Those same guys, however, recoil in horror at the thought of male-on-male. It's unnatural. It's nasty. It is going to be the cause of the damnation of all of American society. Why? Because the Bible says so? Since when does the Bible guide the lives of those who are already hooked on pornography? Pornography is okay as long as it only shows females? I don't get it.
I'm 69-years-old. I haven't lived a perfect life, but I have never deliberately put myself in the line of dangerous circumstances either. Oh...I'm sure there were times when I should have made better safety choices, but I was never afraid of being attacked and raped in any situation in which I found myself. So now I am stating, for the record, that in all of my life, I have never once been approached for a tryst by a sex-crazed lesbian--or ANY lesbian, for that matter. (I'm not sure if I should be grateful or insulted!) I have, however, been accosted by good-ol' hetero men who figured I was fair game. (One such was a tall, lanky, Abraham Lincoln-looking school principal who had hired me and was giving me a tour of the school when he showed me into a storeroom. He cornered me, turned to look me square in the face, and put his hand on my shoulder. I didn't know his intention but did understand that it wasn't good. I ducked out of the room...and that was that. Fortunately, he was transferred or fired or something before that school year started. I never had to teach under his direction.) But I digress. My point? If I had been approached by a lesbian, I would simply have declined her overtures since I'm not gay, and that would have been the end of it. I've never been afraid of an attack by a homosexual female, and never thought for a second that her lifestyle would rub off on me or make me feel tainted. I'm not sure I feel the same way about guys. Gay males aren't looking for women, so they are "safe". Straight guys? Danger on a lot of fronts.
I guess this is why I simply do not understand the homophobia that exists among men. If you aren't a gay man, why would you fear those who are? As former First Lady Nancy Reagan would teach, just say no! You don't even have to say "no thank you". The gay lifestyle isn't going to rub off on you. God isn't going to judge you because you got hit on by another male. Gay guys find other gay guys. I think it's pretty rare for a gay guy to hit on a hetero. They may be gay, but they aren't stupid!
So that brings me to the transgender thing. Although I try, I don't really understand people who choose to be the gender opposite the one they were assigned in utero. There are exceptions, of course, but it isn't up to me to make their decisions for them. I don't know the trials they go through in their minds. Public focus seems to be on guys who transition to gals--not so much the other way around, although there are plenty of instances of women who choose to be men. (It's creepy, when I think about it, that most female-to-male transgenders look decidedly male, while male-to-female trannies make, generally, pretty ugly women, with a warped sense of what is feminine behavior!) I hate the double standard and hypocrisy.
Right now, the big question on the public conscience, since the whole transgender thing has come to the fore with Caitlyn Jenner--once Bruce Jenner--is: what public restroom should transgender people use? I've been watching this argument in my almost-Bible-Belt state, and others. As insane as it sounds, the assumption seems to be that transgender people are sexual predators. Having a M-to-F tranny in the the ladies' restroom is an invitation for rape. Having a F-to M tranny in the men's restroom is an invitation for voyeurism and homosexual rape. Excuse me? My experience--and I do have a little knowledge about this--is that most transgender people have been through the proverbial mill in achieving the look and the lifestyle they think best fits them, and are just wanting to live their lives as real human beings. Only truly mentally unstable people would choose to do this to themselves for the devious purpose of getting access to opposite-gender public restrooms. Yes, there are mentally unstable people among transgender people, I'm sure. But there are MORE mentally unstable people who maintain the gender with which they are born...and go to the restrooms assigned to the gender with which they identify.
How many rapes, murders, and other crimes occur in public restrooms? There are some, of course. But the vast majority of rapes, murders, and other crimes occur in people's homes as well as public places, in full daylight and view. Why are we focusing on restrooms?
When I lived in Japan as a kid (1957-58), public restrooms were multi-gender. It freaked my mother out, but the Japanese just didn't have the kind of righteous indignation that we have about seeing a person of the opposite sex in a public restroom. Heck, we used to drive the roads and see people squatted over an outdoor binjo ditch, defecating in public. It was normal then. In the US, women's restrooms have stalls. No one is exposed in the women's room. Men's restrooms have urinals to make urinating quicker and more convenient, but they also have stalls for privacy to do the other thing. If men are so shy to have transgender people using their facilities, perhaps they should use the stalls. Maybe more stalls need to be put in. It's a simple enough fix.
Dr. Phil says that common sense just isn't that common anymore. I agree. This whole issue has nothing to do with morality. It has to do with fear of the unknown. The first part of the 21st Century in the US will become known as the Gender Years, just as the early 60s were rife with civil rights/racial issues. It will pass, but not without a lot of struggle. Truth be known, I'm tired of it.
If the United States is to exist intact--and considering the present political situation, I'm not sure that it will--all of this will resolve itself. I hope I live long enough to see it!
No comments:
Post a Comment