"We don't have to have a solution for every aberration."

by folkbum

I saw the headline--"Welcome mat out for gender-neutral restrooms"--and thought to myself, Oh, geez, this one is going to bring out the perpetually offended to tell us that, well, they're offended.

I didn't even have to wait for the responses to start showing up on the blogs today, since the Journal Sentinel and reporter Scott Williams must have Julaine Appling, queen of the perpetually offended, on the speed dial for occasions such as this:

Organizers of the Web site www.safe2pee.org--designed to help transgender people find restrooms--say the number of gender-neutral facilities listed on the site has jumped from about 200 to more than 1,500 nationally in less than two years.

But moving away from traditional men's and women's restrooms has stirred opposition, too.

Julaine Appling, chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Family Council, said she was unaware so many places in Wisconsin had implemented the idea, including UW campuses that were the focus of a statewide effort by gay rights activists.

Appling said her organization believes gender-neutral bathrooms create an increased risk of sexual assaults by giving peeping toms and other predators easy access to potential victims.

While acknowledging that old-fashioned restrooms are inconvenient for transgender people, Appling said: "We don't have to have a solution for every aberration. To me, it is not worth the risk."

Oh for the love of dairy! How long before we see a ballot measure--or perhaps just legislation--catapulted along by Appling's organization to save the children and enfeebled from the "aberrations" lurking behind every stall door?

The safe2pee people list, by the way, exactly 15 such restrooms in Wisconsin, including one at that bastion of progressivity, a BP station. The horror.