I did not plan on writing about Target and the uproar they’re causing across the nation because, while I follow the news, I’m not really one to discuss a lot of it. I have my opinions, but I keep them to myself for the most part. But as I thought about what I wanted to write about today, it almost seemed like the obvious choice. Perhaps it’s because there’s something I want to make clear about why so many people are upset.
First of all, what’s the problem? I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Target has allowed their bathrooms to become gender-neutral bathrooms, meaning that you can use whichever bathroom you choose. As a woman, normally I’d find the bathroom marked for woman and use that one. At Target, though, I can now freely walk into the men’s bathroom if I choose to. Same for anyone else. Target felt that having separate gender bathrooms would discriminate against a very small portion of society so why not just make it all neutral so everyone can be happy, right? Wrong!
Upon release of this news, many (close to a million last time I checked) chose to boycott Target. At first I thought that was a little silly. You see, I try not to use public bathrooms so you’d rarely find me in a Target bathroom anyway. Plus, I barely go to Target. I think the only thing they have there that I have yet to find anywhere else is their Monster Cookie ice cream. So to boycott Target seemed ridiculous. Then I got to thinking…
It’s not about me. It’s about all of us. Why is having a gender-neutral bathroom not a good thing? It’s not safe! And, no, I’m not just using safety as a means to hide any deeper issue. Because with those boycotting Target, you’ve got a lot of people blaming those boycotters for hating transgender individuals. Christians, specifically, get targeted for hating all kinds of different sexual orientations. This is just one more thing Christians can hate. And let me tell you, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with hate.
Yes, I’m a Christian. Yes, I do not agree with a lifestyle choice of any sexual orientation other than heterosexuality. But that doesn’t mean I hate them. I’m called to love. I love on anyone and everyone as often as I can. It is not my place to do anything but love. So it’s not about hate. That’s the one point I wanted to get across. We Christians do not hate everyone and everything.
Like I stated above, it’s a safety issue. You might ask how could it be a safety issue? Well, imagine a young girl, say 10 years old, goes into the women’s bathroom. Now say a man much older than her decides to also use the women’s bathroom. He might be feeling a little girly that day OR, and this is the big part, now that he has the freedom to easily prey on young girls, why not, right? If Target doesn’t care what bathroom you use, can’t you see how easy it would be for sexual predators to fill their addiction? Everything is now easy access for them. Just walk in any bathroom and attack. Don’t think that will happen? It already has, and will continue to become more common due to the ease Target is giving to their customers.
Therefore, I wholeheartedly agree that there should not be gender-neutral bathrooms UNLESS it’s a single stall bathroom that you can walk into and lock the door. Multi-stall bathrooms should be left separate. Women go to the women’s bathroom and men go to the men’s bathroom. This has been done for ages so shouldn’t be hard for us to continue doing.
Will I boycott Target? I don’t know the answer to that one yet. I mean, like I said, I do not shop there often, and if I did/do, I try not to use their bathroom. But at some point I also need to make a stand for what I believe. I believe Target is wrong on this one, and while my boycotting won’t affect them terribly much, at least I’m taking a stand. So I definitely have some things to think about and talk about with my family.
The last thing I want to quick point out is that while I was having this conversation with my mom earlier, she had a good question. If Target is allowing their customers to do what they want, well, what if I don’t feel like paying for my items? Just like some guy can “feel” like a woman or a woman “feel” like a man, I might feel like the stuff is overpriced, etc. I know the two aren’t really the same, but it’s something to question.