stalled progress

“Show Your ID to Pee” Video Mocks Bathroom Bills

So this is where we’re at now — in various states, Republicans are so obsessed with genitals that you can be thrown out of the bathroom/into jail if some legislator thinks you’re peeing in the wrong room.

A social media group called Moovz is bringing some awareness to the issue with a video highlighting just how insane this is. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it gets the point across: forcing people to prove their gender and sending them to bathrooms that don’t match who they are is just unpleasant for everyone.

Related: This Video Shows A Trans Woman Being Denied Use Of The Ladies’ Restroom

Moovz wants you to post a photo of yourself holding a sign that says #ID2P, which they’ll compile into a blog post and then “send it to the press,” which is a nice idea, but then what? It’s hard to imagine reporters getting interested in a story about a bunch of people taking selfies with a hashtag. Maybe it’s time to step up the political actions? Station a bouncer outside of the bathroom at state capitols, and refuse to let legislators in until they prove their genders.

Laws like these are, of course, unnecessary and harmful. There’s never been a case of a trans person causing problems in a bathroom; but lots of cases of cisgender people assaulting trans people. So if you want to make bathrooms really safe, make them trans-only.

Anyway, this is an issue that isn’t going away — the ACLU has filed a lawsuit over the bill in North Carolina, and that’ll probably force more dialogue on the issue. Of course, there’s a risk that the ACLU could lose, which would embolden bigots in other states.

Either way, we have years to go before this issue is settled and we can move on to real problems with bathrooms. For example, why aren’t there big dividers between urinals? What is wrong with all these bars and restaurants and theaters that make you pee standing next to people like it’s a golden shower sex party? So gross. Can we deal with that, please, instead of making up problems to solve?

So watch out if you’re in a Republican-dominated state — you never know who might demand to see your ID and force you into the wrong bathroom. Or, if you’re feeling like causing some trouble, you might try to take advantage of those laws and demand some ID from random people while they pee.

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