Following George Takei on Facebook has its benefits. The legendary Mr. Sulu from the original Star Trek series has a biting sense of humour and loves to provoke, politically. Why shouldn’t he? He’s an openly gay man, married to his partner, who champions not just gay rights but all human rights. Gay rights are human rights, after all.Â
The brouhaha in the US about transgender people using the bathroom they choose is about more than allowing a man in a woman’s loo and vice-versa. It’s a tiny part of an original bill to grant legal rights to the LGBT community. Ultra-conservatives latched onto the bathroom issue and tried – successfully in many cases – to make it a safety concern. It was latched onto by fellow conservatives, and people who have never traveled abroad and discovered how many countries have unisex washrooms where it’s common to come out of the stall and see someone with opposing private parts washing their hands at the sink. You didn’t even know they were in the room. Imagine that! It turns out that they had no ill intent. They just had to pee!
George and his husband started a campaign on a website called Omaze. You can put up a T-shirt and a point of view, set a minimum number of orders and if you hit the magic number, off they go. I’m having some trouble getting my order to go through, even with a US pick-up address, but we are working on it. I don’t think I’d ever wear a shirt for a particular candidate but for a cause like this, absolutely. I’m hoping to work it out and get my shirt in the coming weeks.
I have some friends who think their young daughters and granddaughters will suddenly be at risk because a man in a dress will have access to little girls. First, what is a little girl doing in the bathroom by herself? Second, it’s simply not backed up by facts. Transgender people have been using the toilet of the sex they identify with for years. All this does is protect them from being called out and shamed about it. And it’s only a tiny piece of the law meant to protect fellow human beings from discrimination and humiliation. It’s got to be hard enough to feel like your outside doesn’t match your inside. I’d like to be a part of making it a little less difficult.
If the shirt arrives in time, I’ll wear it to the Pride London parade next month. I’ve always avoided attending Pride events because I don’t like being in crowds. But my little preference for miles of elbow room pales in comparison to the need to show my support for the people who need it now, more than ever.