As a parent of young children, I am concerned about the recent bathroom debate sweeping our nation.
Although I am deeply religious, I understand and respect that everyone has the right to choose for themselves how they will live their lives. Our job is not to judge or ridicule anyone. People who are transgender deserve the opportunity to live their lives according to their own personal belief system.
That being said, I deserve the same opportunity to live my life according to my own belief system, and so do my children.
Modesty and virtue are both important parts of who I am as a person. They are intrinsic, defining characteristics for me and for my young children. If a teacher showed a movie during class, and I learned that the movie contained nudity, I would be upset. I would offer a complaint to the appropriate official, ask that it does not happen again, and I donβt think very many people would ridicule me for that.
As a parent, I get to make those choices for my family.
I cannot tell you how much more upset I would be if my daughter walked through a school locker room and saw male genitals! I wouldnβt let her see it in a movie, so why would I let her see it in real life? When she is old enough, she may use her own agency to choose when she is exposed to that.
Personally, I hope she waits until she is married, in the very far-off future.
I am willing to use a separate bathroom, and to teach my children to do the same, in order to preserve our own values. Modesty and virtue are important enough that I donβt mind putting in a little extra effort to protect them.
However, I fear that the effort would not be enough. In a high school locker room, you would most likely have to walk past other students who are changing their clothes in order to get to the individual stalls.
I propose that everyone be provided with and required to use individual stalls whenever clothing is being removed in a public setting. This would include bathrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms and showers. It may seem drastic, but consider the benefits. There are more than 50 gender options available for selection on Facebook, but if everyone is using private stalls, then every single person is being treated the same, no matter their gender. There is no discrimination, and there are no special privileges.
Personally, I believe that there should not be any nudity when there are people of more than one gender present.
This belief extends to situations when the difference in gender is physical, mental or emotional. We have public-nudity laws for similar reasons. If everyone is using private stalls, then no one will have to show what they do not want to show, or see what they do not want to see. There will be no pressure, and no one will have to face additional challenges or discrimination in order to preserve their personal beliefs.
Please spread the word and contact your government officials. Tell them that everyone should have access to and be required to use private stalls. This is the only way to completely avoid discrimination on this issue.
Itβs time for us to move past helping our children find their place in the bathrooms, and move on to helping them find their place in the world.
