I was at a meeting tonight, when I had to go to the bathroom. I had just walked in, when somebody began to bang on the door. I said that I was in the bathroom, but the person kept on banging on the door and turning the door knob. When I was finally done, I washed my hands, and opened the door to walk out. The man, who was making a scene on the other side of the door, turned out to be a prominent LGBT lawyer in Manhattan. I told him I was sorry that he had to wait, but that it wasn't my fault that there was only one public bathroom at our meeting space. He was completely upset, even though I had had the opportunity to meet him before on our work to save St. Vincent's Hospital, and he acted tonight like I was doing something wrong by using the bathroom.
I wonder how many people know that it is wrong to deny people the use of a toilet. Nobody goes to the toilet to play, they go there to use it. If the bully lawyer was having an emergency himself, by banging on the door and turning the knob like he was, the lawyer was violating medical needs of others. What makes him more special than anybody else ?
