By: Erin Smith
As the great bathroom debate wages on and on in infamy, there are a few issues that, at least in my mind, ought to take a higher priority. While I do strongly support House Bill 2, I also think that there are more pressing issues that need to be addressed.
There are sleeper terrorist cells who are waiting on instructions to strike us. There are businesses who are struggling to remain viable due to the weight of government regulations. There are immigrants waiting to have paperwork processed to become naturalized citizens.
There is gang-related violence in our streets. Our children are experimenting with drugs and sex at younger ages than ever before. Our veterans are doing without badly needed medical care and housing. They deserve better. We have senior adults who are forced to chose between badly needed medicines or having enough food to eat. We have parents and children who are homeless. We have an alarming number of children who are entering the foster care system due to a rapidly growing cycle of prescription drug abuse by their parents or caregivers.
We have schools that have leaking roofs and teachers who don’t have enough badly needed classroom supplies. We have schools that are failing to adequately educate our students based on state mandated testing scores.
Yet, all we seem to be able to focus on lately is who is using which restroom. Prior to the adoption of House Bill 2, everyone had been utilizing the restroom of their choice without many problems excluding the occasional sewer line back up or a broken water line. Now, it seems, we must worry about who is in the bathroom stall beside us. If this remains unchecked, I fear we will soon be having to hire a “Potty Patrol” to monitor who uses what bathroom. How will we determine what the qualifications for such a position will be and how will we determine who can use which restroom?
As I sat in a meeting recently, I overheard an audience member discussing this very issue and the individual raised the question, “Since when does the minority get to tell the majority what to do?” The problem goes much deeper than that. It goes back to the attitude of allowing folks to “do whatever feels good so long as it does not directly affect me.”
The level of depravity that is becoming accepted as “normal behavior” is alarming. It seems everyone has some vice or some fetish that they wish to have legislated into being acceptable. It seems that some of our elected leaders would rather legislate immorality rather than to take a stand and fear losing a vote or two.
Many folks have argued that House Bill 2 is unfair and that Charlotte’s bathroom law, which was the catalyst for House Bill 2, was actually very “forward thinking” and a sign that our society has evolved from a “draconian” code of morality. In my opinion, our society is not evolving. It is devolving and heading down the rabbit hole faster than Alice in Wonderland.
I think it is time we move on from this issue and turn our focus to such things as educating our students, helping our senior adults have enough to eat, eradicate gang violence, solve the riddle of drug abuse and providing our veterans with the services they so richly deserve.
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