BATHROOM AS BOGEYMAN

Deja vu and all that. In the early 1970's I spent a lot of time and used a lot of mental energy to promote passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Illinois. A newly college graduated sixties era progressive, long hours of organizing women (and men) often ran headlong into Phyllis Schlafly and, gasp, bathrooms.

The argument was that if we allowed women to have equal rights it would lead to public unisex bathrooms. Too bad we didn't have OMG and ROTFL back then.

Except no one is laughing now as we fight the bathroom wars all over again. Really.

And since many public bathrooms are actually now unisex (Schlafly apparently never thought about doors), it seems nearly as ridiculous and obtuse now as it did then. But now the ante has been upped from mere presence of two sexes, in the same space albeit at different times, to the threat of attack - and on children. No better way to foment opposition than to claim a child is at risk. Without a single shred of evidence that this has ever been so on the part of a transgender person. And with evidence that it has been so on the part of a cisgender person. Why let facts get in the way of a good dose of prejudice and discrimination. Not to mention just plain hatred.

I live in Idaho now. We don't have a lot of big cities and developed area. We do have a lot of forests, mountains, high desert and other "back country". In fact, sixty-three percent of our land is federally owned and the state owns a great deal more. We like our wild lands. We hunt, fish, backpack, trail ride, hike, camp and generally spend as much of our free time as possible outdoors. Not many trees or bushes have peeing sex designated. That lack of gendered bathrooms hasn't stopped an overwhelming majority of Idahoans from spending time in the back country and - wait for it - peeing and pooping when needed and without thought of gender.

People, cisgender or transgender, do not go to a bathroom to show off their parts or to take advantage of young children. They go to perform a perfectly natural bodily function. In the US as privately as possible, although this penchant for privacy is not shared worldwide. No drama. Get in and get out.

So I am left to ask, in a time unlike the 70s where there is nothing unseen even by children, why is it exactly, that there is such fear about a toilet where you close the door and do your own thing privately?

It is an epidemic of fear. Fear of the "other". Fear of the unknown and unmet. That is what we teach our children in the name of protection...fear, intolerance, injustice and bigotry. When did it become OK to hurt others and deny them humanity based on gender preference? Never.

LOOKING INTO HEARTS

"I don’t think Trump is spreading bigotry and racism in this country — I think he is unleashing it. He is saying the things that a lot of people already believed but were too polite or afraid to say in public." ~~Saqib Bhatti

Over the last weeks, I have watched with horror our country's descent into madness lead by Donald Trump. I've re-posted on Facebook dozens of opinion pieces and then taken Facebook time outs because my helpless anger and despair went beyond my ability to stay sane. Now, with a deep breath, no little trepidation and some help from a poet, I hope to make sense of our evolving politics, both for myself and for my country; to look into the hearts of my country and, much harder, to look into my own heart.

Saqib Bhatti, quoted above, said squarely and openly what many of us are thinking. The problem isn't the abomination that is Donald Trump. Without supporters, Trump is just one more representative of humankind's worst and most evil; easily avoided and dismissed.

So, who are we really as a country? Are we the land of the free and the home of the brave? Are we the Statue of Liberty:

"A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles."

...

  "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Or have we become an island in the world that protects our glorious bounty at the cost of our humanity? An island that not only fails to welcome others, but openly rejects our own if they don't look, worship or act like white male elders? An island where one person's success MUST come at the expense of another? A zero sum game of life. A "business model" for the soul.

What have we become? What do we think we are? What are we really? Is this a new us or just the peeling back of a false face? Did we grow up to become the bully down the street?

When I look into hearts will I see compassion or loathing? Empathy or repugnance? Harmony or singularity? One of many or many of one?

Much has been said about fear and anger as the motivators to support Trump. This idea seems merely a weak excuse for hate. Yet these are our neighbors, members of our congregations, owners of local businesses, parents of our children's playmates. They walk the same paths we walk. Are we sure that it is not possible for us to become them? And can we keep the promise of America on a steady course through turbulent times and the fierce headwinds of fabricated fright?

This political season has brought us the, perhaps unwelcome, need to examine our own hearts.  Can we look at ourselves, our children and our grandchildren and declare that when we traversed the great political divide of 2016 our judgment was fearless, sound and humane? This is truly a battle for the soul of America and for the conscience of each American citizen.

"Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide.

In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side." ~~James Russell Lowell

OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS - SAVE THIS DATE: JANUARY 17TH

Dear Congress,

The horrifying event in Arizona presents a challenge and a choice to you; not just all of you, but each and every one of you. Will you choose to continue the great American history of democracy or will you follow TSA, fleeing shoes and underwear toward fear? Will you cower from your own constituents or will you say "Not in Our America"?

Will you be any less brave in fighting for and carrying out our American means of governing than our men and women fighting exactly the same rule of fear and lawlessness in the Middle East? Or the citizens of those countries whom we ask to risk much for a philosophy of government?

Thank you for the pause to respect and reflect. But then it is time to rise up, without party or prejudice, without thought for personal or political gain, without endless planning and plotting and dare to do what Congresswoman Giffords demonstrated. Congress and constituents must converse, debate and interact face to face for our democracy to survive.

If we preach democracy abroad, we must be willing to demonstrate it fully at home. The list of Americans, who at considerably more risk than that faced by a Congress in a comfortable world and capable of mustering reasonable security resources, is long and illustrious - starting with the likes of George Washington or Patrick Henry.

How will our generation of leaders measure up?

I propose that on January 17th (a date with it's own illustrious history of bravery) every Congressperson hold a 'Congress on Your Corner' in their own District.

Let us say to those who would have America ruled by firepower rather than persuasion, by passion unbridled rather than passion assembling, by force and fear rather than courage and conferring: Not In Our America.

And yes, I know it is easy to ask for others to be brave in the face of danger, however limited. Yes, I know prudent precautions may stretch already reduced law enforcement resources. Yes, I know moving 535 individuals in one direction is currently proving arduous.

However, I'm betting on you and on us. If you come, we will too.

Sincerely,
Marcia Illian Banta
One American Citizen