Men Don't Belong in Women's Bathrooms! (It's Not What You're Thinking)
Conservatives Refusing to Learn From History Doom Us to Repeat It
One of the most famous and powerful pieces of literature to come out of the atrocities of the second World War was a short quote attributed to the German pastor Martin Niemöller that goes:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Pastor Niemöller’s quote was part admission about his own early complicity in Nazism, and part indictment against the passivity and indifference of German society as a whole during the Holocaust. The underlying message behind his words couldn’t be more poignant and obvious: If you wait until it’s happening to you, it may be too late.
These words have been part of the permanent exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum since its opening in 1993, affixed to the wall as the final exhibit visitors see on their way out, a sobering reminder that some group—maybe not yours—is going to be the “first” one they come for.
Coming after any group first is the warning sign we’re all supposed to be on the lookout for, a lesson that was grasped fully by whatever delightful soul created this meme:
Unfortunately, none of our Conservative friends and family seemed to have learned the lesson. I know they learned the quote—I’ve watched them post it all over their social media profiles for years whenever they feel the need to trot out a public peacocking display about how “enlightened” they are about the past, inviting easy likes and shares and comments like “Amen!” to give them a little dopamine rush.
The problem is that the assignment wasn’t to learn the quote, it was to learn the lesson behind the quote, which we all know they didn’t do because now “they” are actually “coming for someone first.” And all our Conservative friends and family who patted themselves on the back for sharing Niemöller’s noble sentiment on Facebook are the ones cheering it on because it’s not their group.
The only mammal in history to ever fail harder at learning the lesson is that coyote from the Bugs Bunny cartoons, and he wasn’t real.
Also, remember how those same Conservatives don’t want “men in women’s bathrooms?” Well, guess what’s happening now?
Men Are Policing Women’s Bathrooms!
Literally.
She_luvv.kayy is the TikTok handle for a woman, who is a lesbian, which means she’s definitely a woman. (I know that sounds obvious, but you know how you sometimes have to hold Conservatives’ hands through these things). Because this 100% woman is slightly masculine looking—what they call a “stud” in the black lesbian community—a Walmart worker who watched her walk into the ladies room called the police, leading to this exchange IN THE F****** WOMEN’S BATHROOM!
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WHY IN THE EVERLOVING F*** ARE 2 MALE COPS IN THE WOMEN’S RESTROOM ACCOSTING WOMEN TO MAKE SURE THEY’RE REALLY WOMEN?
Because that’s the societal bed Conservatives made for everyone to sleep in!
You wanna know how that woman had to prove to the male cops in her bathroom that she was really a woman?
She had to lift up her f******ing shirt and show them what was underneath!
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After this entire humiliating ordeal, if you think the cops walked out of the women’s bathroom and told the Walmart employee who called it in to mind their own f****** business next time, you’d be sorely mistaken. The woman who was accosted by men in the women’s bathroom was…kicked out of Walmart herself.
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This is the utterly insane time we live in—surrounded by people so homophobic, so transphobic, so ignorant and hateful that in order to “protect women from having men in their bathrooms,” they’ve got men policing women…in women’s bathrooms.
Someone please make that make sense.
Given the insanity of our current politics, it should come as no surprise to anyone that on Friday, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill removing gender identity from from the state’s civil rights laws, giving Iowa the dubious distinction of being the first state to remove civil rights from a previously protected class of people.
And because Conservatives are apparently incapable of ever learning from anything, here’s Governor Reynolds explaining how this new bill will “safeguard the rights of women and girls” at the same time in history women and girls’ rights are being violated by men policing their bathrooms.
Since some of us actually do learn from history, with the passage of this historical bill, I can guarantee that Iowa is only the first state, and trans individuals are only the first group.
It’s time to stop patting yourself on the back for memorizing Pastor Niemöller’s quote, America, and get to learning the lesson.
While we’re all still here to speak out.
Orrin Hatch of Utah famously voted against protections or support for a certain class of children. He only changed his tune when one of his own fell prey to the situation. In other words, he didn’t learn the lesson and only acted when they came for his family.
People in transition who are still in possession of their penis should not be allowed to disrobe or shower in women’s private spaces, locker rooms revealing their essential remaining manhood. To paraphrase Dame Judy Dench, or Dame Maggie Smith (or some Dame!): “Religion [or expositive transgenderism] is like a penis. It’s a perfectly fine thing to have, but when you start waving it in my face we have a problem.” If a transgender person who is outwardly female uses a private stall, I’d say go ahead and use the women’s bathroom. I hope the stud lady sues and wins big.