Focus on the Family Focuses on Gays' in Public Bathrooms

I, frankly, just can't get enough of Focus on the Family! The best religious radicals are back at it again, with more fun-filled, hilarious antics, ready to wage war against urinating homosexuals and transvestites. That's right, I said it - urinating gays and trannies!

You may be asking yourself, why in the world would the Christian right be concerned with various sexual orientation's urination habits? Well, let me fill you in, on both sides of the story. I wouldn't want to lead you to some conclusion that you may have not come to on your own, because I didn't give you all the facts.

What spurred the war against homosexuals in bathrooms? Colorado State Senate Bill 08-200, which was recently introduced and passed the Colorado State House and Senate, is now sitting on Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter's desk. This bill is nothing more than an amendment to an already existing anti-discrimination bill; this is simply updating the existing bill to include religion and sexual orientation. Just like any other anti-discrimination bill - you know, the whole race, creed , color, sex, disability, martial status, national origin or ancestry deal - they just added religion to the part that it was missing from, and sexual orientation to all the areas. No big deal right?

This very small change to this already-existing bill will make very small changes to the following:

Housing practices

Places of public accommodation

Publication of discriminative matter

Consumer credit transactions

Membership in labor organizations

Inclusion in public works projects

Issuance of license to practice law

Sales of cemetery plots

Determination of whether expenses paid at or to a club that has a policy to restrict membership are tax deductible

Enrollment or classification of students at private occupational schools

The provision of funeral services

Eligibility for jury service

Enrollment in a charter school, institute charter school, public school, or pilot school for expelled students

Written local school boards of education policies regarding employment, promotion, and dismissal

The assignment or transfer of a public school teacher

Leasing portions of the grounds of or improvements on the grounds of the Colorado State University - Pueblo and the Colorado School of Mines

Employment in state personnel system

The provision of adequate hospital facilities

Availability of family planning services

Employment practices of county departments of social services involving selection, retention, and promotion of employees

Participation in the managed care program under the children's basic health plan

Making or committing to make a housing facility loan by the Colorado housing and finance authority

Imposition of a discriminatory occupancy requirement on charitable property for which the owner is claiming an exemption from property taxes based on the charitable use of the property

You may be thinking, what does all this have to do with bathrooms? It comes down to the second four-word phrase to this proposed amendment: places of public accommodation.

Now to this section they added both religion and sexual orientation, proposing that all people have "the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodations or, directly or indirectly, to publish, circulate, issue, display, post, or mail any written or printed communications, notice, or advertisement that indicates that the full equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation will be refused, withheld from, or denied an individual or that an individual's patronage or presence at a place of public accommodation is unwelcome, objectionable, unacceptable, or undesirable because of disability, race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry." And from this they get bathrooms.

Out of all of the topics, and all of these issues and changes, they decide that the public bathrooms are an issue. Focus on the Family seems to be concerned about the impact that this legislation will have on Christian small business owners, who would rather not serve homosexuals on the basis of religious grounds, as well as the bathroom thing. Tom Minnery had made this statement encouraging people to contact the governor regarding the following issues: "There are multiple problems with this legislation, but the problem of restrooms is the most breathtaking one. Until now, establishments open to the public have been allowed to restrict certain restrooms and locker rooms to one sex if it made sense to do so, as it almost always does. With SB 200, however, we no longer have two "sexes"; we enter a brave new world with a myriad of "sexual orientations" that must not be discriminated against, upon pain of the substantial civil and criminal penalties contained in the bill.", as well as, "A refusal to do business with someone based on a sincerely held religious belief that homosexuality is wrong would violate the law. That threatens the religious liberties of every Christian, Jewish or Muslim business owner who operates a business on faith-based principles." In addition to these statements made, they also released to the Denver Post that "the bill would have serious consequences, such as opening Colorado public restrooms and locker rooms to all genders and transgendered people, exposing children and women to sexual predators." Need I quote more?

The question is, how many restrooms have you been in when someone has surveyed you regarding your sexual orientation? Women are in stalls, and I can honestly say that its not a hot topic of conversation in the ladies room. I took a small survey myself, and found that it's not common practice to question sexual orientation while men are standing at the urinal either. I have never been attacked in the ladies room, nor have my children. My husband and I have many friends that are gay, and never have I been concerned about these so-called "sexual predators". In fact, I would have a larger concern about my children around 'men of the cloth' in bathrooms than any homosexual, bisexual, transsexual or the like. The 'men of the cloth' seem to be caught frequently with their pants down. Also, if this was something that we, being heterosexual males, women, and children, would have heard about, I mean the rash of transsexual sexual predators attacking women and children in bathrooms wouldn't go unnoticed.

Focus on the Family and Colorado Family Action need to find something better to lobby against. If these are their main issues, then they aren't quite living in the now or anywhere close to reality. These aren't really issues, they are outdated, prejudiced and bigoted ideas being cloaked by ridiculous and unfounded claims. The continuous attempt to sway political banter is one day going to backfire in their faces. Repeated attempts to blackmail their way into power, sway the judicial process and threatening political heads with pulling votes during election times is not exactly Christian-like. Attempting to smooth-talk their way in, similar to Hitler coming into power and forming Nazi Germany, seems to be the goal of this Colorado based Christian Right group. Wars have been waged in the name of their God, and this is just another attempt and another example. Please find something worthwhile, go save a soul or whatever it is that you people do and leave the 1970's bathroom scare tactics in the 1970's.

Business isn't the place to have religious or sexual orientation discrimination. If you aren't in the business to serve people regardless of what they believe in or who they sleep with, then you shouldn't be in business. As a small business owner myself, it has never occurred to me to ask any of these questions of a potential client. I offer a service, I get paid to perform a service. I don't get paid to like people or to butt into their bedrooms (or bathrooms, for that matter). I am pagan and work with people of all religions and all sexual orientations; I have no problem with it because it's not really an issue for me. I work with churches and other non-profit organizations, and while I may not agree with the principles or beliefs that they may hold, I don't think any less of them because of it, and I certainly don't turn away the business because of it. And people of all creeds, colors, religions, sexual orientations, disabilities, races, marital statuses, national origins or ancestries can use my bathroom. If this article has offended any of my readers, we will just have to agree to disagree, and we'll leave the bathroom out of it.

Sources:

http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007522.cfm
http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2008A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/BD7A295EB6F4460E872573F5005D0148?Open&file=200_01.pdf