There’s a battle brewing over bidets and basins. Surely this is a sign we’re slipping into a bizzaro parallel universe where common sense has gone the way of the woolly mammoth. Those supporting transphobic bathroom bills say they’re taking a moral high ground; I say that’s a bunch of malarky.
The only thing that needs rushing to extinction is the concept of gender-defined spaces for heeding mother nature’s call. Last week I had a chance to tour my old university residence, where a five-year, multi-million dollar construction project will soon be finished and ready to welcome a new group of undergrads into a modern facility that is not only sensitive to those outside the gender binary, but is ready to give them a safe space to live, learn, and do their business.
It’s a far cry from when I moved in some tw@!#$% years ago. Mildly confused about my orientation, crippled by debilitating negative body image, and nervous as hell about being away from home for the first time, I stood paralyzed with fear when I first saw the six-person open concept shower room I now shared with 30 guys.
Rae Spoon and filmmaker Chelsea McMullan, who together created the magnificent My Prairie Home, have come together once again, this time joined by a group of LGBTQ2 and ally youth to dance this absurd abuse of political power mess around. The video for “I Hear Them Calling” recently won funding through Storyhive, a community-powered funding program that’s voted on by the public. Donning homemade costumes and taking the party vibe to an inclusive powder room, Spoon, McMullan and the revelers not only reclaim the basic human right of dignity and respect, but are working to reverse this irrational backward slide into insanity.
“I want to live like this all the time,” Spoon says, echoing a desire and sentiment that transcends any gender divide. Who among us, male, female, gay, straight or other wouldn’t want to live with dignity and respect?
