A sign that it is getting better

[patti.jean]

I had a pleasant surprise this past week when I was at the Columbus Circle Mall in NYC having dinner as Patti with Katherine at Momofuku Noodle Bar. When I went to the mall restroom this is the sign by the entrance.

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[JenniferR771]

Good going, Patti. I hope you had a wonderful time.
Wow, NYC! How modern and up to date...bathrooms according to gender expression.
I hope the trend spreads to the hinterlands!

[il.dso]

Yes, progress!
Tough to find tolerance and support these days.
Great restaurant too, have been many times though only in drab mode, unfortunately.

[docrobbysherry]

Yea!

[OrdinaryAverageGuy]

I still don't understand why we have 2 restrooms anyway.

[alwayshave]

Patti, That is a a wonderful sign. At my local pub, the signs on the restrooms say "Whichever".

[Helen_Highwater]

In one of the LBGTQ pubs I've frequented there's 2 toilets. Male only urinals and a second which is just cubicles. Seems to operate ok

[Suranne]

That's a great sign. We're seeing that kind of thing more and more over here now too - not everywhere, it'll never be everywhere, but certainly more frequently. Also, my day to day experience tells me that it's ok for a trans woman to use the toilet of need - I dislike the word choice - this isn't something we choose.

[Heather76]

Okay, I'm going to be the cog in this wheel of joy. I love the part about gender expression but not the part about gender identity. The difference in my mind is when I'm dressed en femme, I am expressing myself as a woman and I won't generally raise eyebrows walking into the ladies' room. However, if I'm in drab mode shopping for dresses and walk into the ladies' room I would expect that people would notice and wonder what the heck I'm doing...and why. That's also about the time some guy 6'3" and 240 lbs. is going to see this smaller man walk into the same washroom his 12 year old daughter just went into. Can we say, "Let the fireworks begin."? Sometimes it's better to swallow one's pride (nice play on words) and conform even when one would prefer not to. Anyway, with regard to gender expression, I agree 100%. On a recent en femme shopping trip, I used both a family restroom and a ladies' restroom. I was actually more comfortable in the ladies' washroom.

BTW, I'm just offering my perspective - not trying to start a debate. I respect everyone's opinion and realize we don't always have to agree with one another.

Hugs, Heather

[nancy58]

Oh, definitely!

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I especially like Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington, DC. Years ago, they replaced the "men"/"women" signs on the restrooms with signage explaining that anyone could go into either one, and the type and number of fixtures available are posted outside each door. The urinals are in their own partition so that women don't have to look at men parked against the wall, and the toilet stall walls go down to the floor, so a woman doesn't have to worry about her purse being stolen or other shenanigans. I longed to go there en femme, but that's the place where my wife and I go together, and she won't go out with me dressed up.

The above picture is from a Delaware restaurant I visited over the weekend.