I can’t believe I am writing about that critical national issue: which public toilet should people use.  

One of the things I got right during the presidential campaign was that anyone who took the Trumpster’s word for anyone was falling for a con.  The man said any number of things, took many sides of many issues, and often seemed to be channeling the last person he spoke to (is that Steve Bannon I just saw leaving his office?).  Famously, he spoke in favor of “LBGT and Q” rights in his nomination acceptance speech, although it seemed to me at the time that he wasn’t sure what all of the letters meant.  On January 31 (just 3 1/2 weeks ago) he issued the following statement:

“President Donald J. Trump Will Continue to Enforce Executive Order Protecting the Rights of the LGBTQ Community in the Workplace

President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election. The President is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression. The executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J. Trump. ”

(https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/31/president-donald-j-trump-will-continue-enforce-executive-order)

Then, this week, his Education and Justice Departments issued a joint letter rescinded a prior letter issued by those departments under the Obama administration that gave protections to transgender students (the “T” in LGBTQ) in using the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.   So we seem to have a case where the Trumpster said one thing during the election, then did another.  This isn’t the first and won’t be the last time, folks. 

Let’s start by noting that the question of which bathroom people can or should use has risen to a national debate.  Which is sad, very sad. But let’s examine the underlying issue and what some people claim they are trying to accomplish.   

It appears to me that some people have a gender identity that is at odds with their external sexual identity at birth.  People born male feel female, and vice versa.  For many reasons, this creates a lot of stress in their lives, and some of them are able to deal with it by switching their public identify from female to male, or male to female, to match what they feel.   One of the most famous in recent times was Caitlyn Jenner, who spend 60 years of her life as Bruce Jenner.   I do recall the Trumpster saying she could use any bathroom she liked in Trumpster Tower.  

So here we have a person, “Kim”, who dresses and looks like a man (or boy), or like a woman (or girl).  Kim needs to use a public toilet.  Which room should they choose?  Door #1, or door #2?  If Kim chooses the door that matches his/her public identity, most likely no one will notice anything unusual.  This would of course violate the inane law in North Carolina.  Or, Kim could follow the NC law and what the proponents of the above Trumpster Letter and choose the door that matches his/her biological or birth identity, and which is contrary to the public identity.  So bystanders would see a woman walking into the Men’s Room, or a man walking into the Woman’s Room.   How well would that go over?

I guess – because I can’t imagine what people are really thinking –  that the supporters of the Trumpster’s latest view on this are worried about one of two things.  

They could be worried about their modesty.  But as I understand it, Woman’s Rooms are 100% stalls (I’ve never been in one myself).  And Kim would most likely choose to use a stall if he went into the Men’s Room.  

Or they could be worried that Kim, who was born a male but is now female, will rapea  “real” woman if she is allowed to use the Woman’s Room.   Now, I could have missed it, but the crime wave of such incidents seems to not exist.  Nor is there any reason to believe that this is the most likely way that a sexual predator who choose to attack their victim.  Because sneaking into the toilet while cross-dressed to commit rape means you assume no one will be there to witness the attack, so why go to the trouble of putting on a costume?  And, if you’re assuming others will be there, are you planning to rape in front of witnesses?   

The whole thing doesn’t make any sense to me.  And by the way, this latest ruling is coming from the administration headed by the man/boy who boasted about sexually assaulting women.  For sure, don’t let him anywhere near the Woman’s Room.   He wouldn’t even wait, he’d just grab’em by the … .

We went skiing in Vermont this week, as it’s a school holiday week (RealPresident’s Day) and the grandkids are off from school.  Since it’s February, it’s usually pretty cold and, more often than not, cloudy and grey.  But not this week.  Today it was bright and sunny, and 60F.  I don’t know the kid in the picture, but he wasn’t the only one dressed like this today.  I went out in three light layers, which was two too many.  But thanks to the abundant snowfall so far this season, the skiing was great, if slushy.  And despite the holiday week, the mountain was pretty empty.  We all came in at the end of the day completely exhausted.  With no lift lines, we had much less recovery time than usual between runs.  Plus it’s a lot of work pushing the slushy snow out of the way as you ski.

Spring skiing