Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Sex in Stalls in Public Restrooms is Private

You know, first, this is a good example of showing that the ACLU is apolitical and will defend the civil rights of anyone. But moreso, this is also a good argument and I agree with it. It is ridiculous that they charged him in the first place in this. I don't want the government trolling private stalls in restrooms for arrests. I think there is an expectation of privacy in a stall. So good for the ACLU.

3 comments:

Nicole said...

I'm also all for keeping the government out of our bedrooms, but I don't think public bathrooms qualify as an ok place to have sex. My son is old enough to feel like using the women's bathroom is majorly embarrassing, but still young and innocent enough that I don't want him to wonder why there's two people in the bathroom stall next to his.

There's rights, and then there's being decent, and it doesn't take anything away from the sexual experience to require people to keep it out of places where children and innocent adults will stumble upon it.

DBB said...

I can understand that sentiment, but I think what I'd like to teach my son and daughter is that no matter what they might hear in a closed stall, it is none of their business what is going on in there and to ignore it (well, unless they hear cries for help or something).

I am always concerned about children, but I am cautious where concern for children might be used an excuse to curtail the activities of adults.

I don't think I want to have sex in a public restroom, but as long as consenting adults do it with the door closed and are reasonably discreet about it, I really don't care. When you get right down to it, I really don't want to see what is going on in the next stall whether it is sex or not. In some ways, sex would be easier to see than what usually happens in a public restroom stall (and certainly would not smell as bad...)

Bing said...

You don't want him to wonder? I think more accurately, you don't want him to find out why there are two people in the stall.

I have been using public bathrooms my entire life, and many of those bathrooms were in seedy bars. Notwithstanding, I have never, ever once encountered people sexing in a stall. Never. As far as I can tell, if not a completely made up crisis, it's certainly a way over-blown non-crisis.

I think that the "children" argument is a bit of a trump card that people can slap down whenever they find something objectionable. Tough tater tots.

Hj