Has it upset anyone else that Oregon had a new bathroom law ?

Question

Channel 12, channel 10, Channel 5, and the local Christian station I listen to a lot have ALL put it on the air that in the very near future; ALL State Govt bathrooms will have the gender specific signs removed from their doors and walls. This is NOT something I have read and misunderstood. I wish that were so.

Answer 1

OK, I just did the following and came up with NOTHING that you mention here:
1. Google search: Oregon Bathroom Law
2. KATU News website... nothing
3. KPTV News website... nothing..
4. KGW News... nothing
5. A couple of "Christian" news stations/sites... nothing.

Me thinks you didn't hear or see something correctly..

Answer 2

No, sorry, not even close. This little gem has been floating round the Christian radio and TV stations for a while, but it's not true. Maybe some local mainstream stations have picked it up from there.

The writers of the stories have misinterpreted a new University rule (not a law) at OSU that allows residential halls (dorms) to designate "gender neutral" bathrooms. (Which must be bathrooms that have only stalls with doors, no urinals)

Mostly this is done in smaller dorms with a limited number of bathrooms where making them 'gender neutral' gives people more bathrooms to access.

The Christian right has been up in arms against this because the gay/lesbian community is in favor of them as it means TG people don't have to choose which gender bathroom to use.

Nothing prevents any State Gov't facility from having "Mens" and "Womens" bathrooms. Also, the new rule only applies at OSU.

Note, though, that ANY business or State office in Oregon with less than 10 employees has always been allowed to have a gender neutral bathroom. Lots of small businesses, shops, etc, don't have two bathrooms.

Richard

Answer 3

Sometimes some jokers who work at places where they can place news items on the wireservices. Sometimes some employees think it's a wheeze to put fake press releases on the wire as a hoax. There actually is a prize for the best hoax press release -- I won it one year. The story was so ridiculous I wondered how anyone could possibly believe it, yet some radio stations and papers ran it.

When my boss at the time spoke to me about this, he used the word "fired" a lot.

This is probably a hoax too. Government law states most definetly that to protect women from crime, not only do bathrooms have to be seperate, certain precautions have to be taken to ensure that they are safe so a woman can not be assaulted.

The since unisex bathrooms can not provide the privacy needed to help protect women from assault, it ain't going to happen.

ps, I read your comment -- I fully believe that you understood it perfectly, that's the purpose. The "joke" in the news community is on the television stations who ran the item. It's because it proves that the stations ddn't do any fact checking, which is a major no-no in journalism. You never run anything without checking the facts. All news organizations have either a unit whose job it is to do fact checking or they have an iron-clad rule that the reporter do some fact checking.

When a government news release comes out, it usually comes with quote or two from the Governor, the Mayor or somebody high up in government. What is not known is that the journalists who work for the State or Federal Government make up these quotes. The Governor, Mayor, President never actually said them. So it is easy for a newspaper to write a fake story and then make up a fake quote from the Governor to make it seem real and that it came from a real, legitimate press release. Then the reporter puts it on the wire service and sees who falls for the gag.

Answer 4

This has all the trappings of an urban legend. I have seen this now in several questions here, but when I Google it to read the story for myself, the only references I see are to Yahoo Answers!

Years ago the Democrats tried to pass an amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing women equal rights to men. That's all it did, it was like 10 words long, saying that no law would be passed that discriminated based only on gender. You'd think a law like that would be easy to pass, wouldn't you? But nooooo! Conservatives and the religious right insisted that this law would lead perforce to unisex bathrooms.

I thought this was a silly argument. If neither side wanted unisex bathrooms, why should they be unavoidable? How do separate bathrooms (separate but equal? 8^) ) show discrimination?

This story sounds to me like either someone's April Fool's joke (badly timed!) or else some fake political issue to get you riled up.

Answer 5

How can that be? A woman might end up in a large open room full of urinals and people using them. That would not be proper. It would be more understandable if all restrooms had stalls with functioning doors and locks and no huge cracks around the doors. We shall see what happens.

Answer 6

But it is not law yet right? Maybe it is just something your Govt. is floating out there to take your mind off something else that they are doing.

Answer 7

WHAT that sucks, and is totally stupid. how will you tell the bathrooms apart? i would be mad as heck if we had that law here. why would they do something that stupid? i DONT want to walk into the mens room.

Answer 8

i live in southern oregon and have not heard that yet, but if it is true then that is messed up and can cause some issues.

Answer 9

Mmmmmmmmm This must be something to do with women demanding "Equal" rights

Answer 10

it doesn't bother me that much, it just ups the chances of more rapes and other acts like that.