Bathroom Signs Were Genius
 
To the Editor:

Some of you may have noticed your bathrooms were a little different this past Tuesday. Some of you may have been perturbed, even annoyed to find that the door that had said “men” or “women” have been relabeled “trans.” Perhaps you were one of those who tore down or scribbled out the signs.
It is my hope that the action (which was, incidentally, thought up as I understand it by a couple of wonderful non-transgendered allies) brought not only confusion or anger but reflection. How does it feel to encounter a pair of bathroom signs that don’t reflect who you are? To worry that wherever you choose to go to pee, there will be people of a different gender there who might make you feel uncomfortable, or who might get angry at your presence? To have to consider your identity, your body, to wonder what’ll happen beyond the bathroom door, to even have to worry about your safety every time you need to relieve yourself?
So I hope you’ll agree with me that Tuesday’s guerilla re-labeling, at once light-hearted and deeply serious, was not an irresponsible inconvenience or insult to non-trans people, but rather a stroke of genius, and a much-needed reminder of the need for non-gendered bathrooms (in addition to, if not instead of gendered ones), so that men, women, and the rest of us can all use the potty without unnecessary anxiety.

–Nathan Tobin
College sophomore