Gender neutral bathrooms

or the "removal of doors" in a toilet block at one of our northern suburbs high schools is the latest piece of idiocy in the "gender debate". The cubicles still have doors but the facilities are now wide open to public scrutiny.

There has, rightly, been a backlash. It is an area which has more than its fair share of social problems. The move will not make things "safer" for those using the facilities. Students will always find a way around that. What it has done is make it more difficult for some students to actually use the facilities at all.

This was reported in the paper this morning but  I actually learned about it several days ago. A friend who is closely associated with the school in question told me about the way in which several girls from minority ethnic backgrounds had approached her. They are distressed by the action. For them using any public facilities is something they find difficult. Using something wide open to public view is a step too far.

"They are trying to hold on until they get home," my friend informed me.

I didn't bother to ask about the urinals for the boys. The girls were her concern - and mine. Too many of them come from backgrounds where these things are not mentioned to others, even at home.

This is a step too far, much too far. This is not some sort of "gender equality" issue. It has nothing to do with "equality".  If you need to provide for "transgender" students then provide a much smaller "unisex" facility they can use discreetly.  They may actually feel much more comfortable about that because how many genuinely transgender students feel any need to flaunt their sexuality? The answer to that question is apparently very few. It may be just as difficult, if not more difficult, for them to use  "equal" facilities.  Yes, we are talking about catering for the 0.0005% of the population who have an overwhelming desire to "change". 

Using public facilities is difficult enough for most people, even when the facilities are single sex. What we do there is something the vast majority of women keep private even within their own homes. It is why men rarely speak to another in such facilities.

Why the vocal minority has been allowed to dictate to the majority in this matter is something which genuinely disturbs me.