The term gained attention not long ago when it was used by the editorial board of a school newspaper at Pomona College.  A staff-written Nov. 14, 2005, article urges the college to stop being  “heteronormative” and install “gender neutral” bathrooms at a campus center, rather than assuming bathrooms designated for “males” and “females” alone are adequate.[3]

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith was branded “heteronormative” after delivering a speech at Harvard that focused solely on relationships and marriages between men and women.  She was criticized for having a focus that was too “narrow” and which caused some in the audience to feel “left out.”[4]

On college campuses and in workplaces, a renewed push is on to eliminate bathrooms reserved solely for those subscribing to normal sexual roles.  Such “stereotypes” could “alienate” those who subscribe to neither or both “roles.”  Bowling Green University in Ohio has already installed such facilities.  Some students and activists at other institutions, such as Beloit College and the University of Chicago, are pushing for the same.[5]

No mention is given to how much taxpayers—including those who oppose homosexual behavior—are anteing up to fund the “special” facilities, or whether they would agree with allowing their children to attend an institution that celebrates such beliefs, which may well be contrary to their own.

The moral of the lesson?  If you give a mouse same-sex benefits, he’s going to ask you for the gender-neutral bathroom and oh so much more.

Alan Sears, a former federal prosecutor who held various posts in the departments of Justice and Interior during the Reagan Administration, is president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund (www.telladf.org), a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.

[1] “Homosexual groups back off from ‘10 percent’ myth.”  Family Research Council, Nov. 23, 2005.

[2] “Mr. Newdow Goes to Washington.”  Brown Alumni magazine, May/June 2004.

[3] “All students deserve safe SCC restrooms.”  Student Life editorial board, Nov. 11, 2005.

[4] “The Tyranny of the Minority.”  Boston Globe, March 14, 2005 (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/03/14/the_tyranny_of_the_minority).

[5] “Beloit students pushing for ‘gender-neutral’ bathrooms.”  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb. 11, 2004 (http://www2.jsonline.com/news/state/feb04/206828.asp).