Gender-Neutral bathrooms take over?

Recently I was walking in the Sandburg Commons on the UWM campus. Near the computer area I saw a colorful sign plastered near the entrance to a small bathroom. Its rainbow-emblazoned typeface told me proudly that this was now a "gender neutral bathroom." The familiar stick figures on the main sign showed the man next to the woman in perfect harmony. I thought that maybe this was just a one stall bathroom UWM decided to make open to both genders. Upon entering, I realized I was wrong, this was now a multi-gender, multi-stalled bathroom.

For those of you not familiar with the concept, gender neutral bathrooms are designed for use by men or women, and put in place by LGBT groups worried transgender and gender confused people won't be comfortable in normal bathrooms. Now I understand how it must be awkward to identify as a woman but be born as a man, and have to use the men's room in a public place. I also understand how these people, through no fault of their own, face daily discrimination from ignorant and cruel people. I support all reasonable means to protect the rights of everybody in our society, for without equality for all, there is equality for none. However, I am not willing to agree with a policy that erases the boundary between what is male and female in our society. I personally have no problem with gender confused people using the public restroom while I'm there. I wouldn't freak out or throw a fit, I honestly don't care. On the other hand, I doubt many males and surely mostly all females would not feel comfortable using a restroom open to the opposite gender. What annoys me the most is that we don't live in a society where transgender people take up a large percentage of our populous, in fact it is estimated that transgender people account for anywhere between 0.25 and 1 percent of people in America. That averages to about 1 in 2,000 people.

I understand many might not think this is a pressing issue, however the Minneapolis state legislature is considering changing most city multi-stalled bathrooms into gender neutral ones. This would not only cost the state a large sum of money, but force the gross majority of people to come to terms with sharing such a private place with members of the opposite sex. When attempting to please everybody, legislatures must be careful to avoid enacting a tyranny of the minority. There are better ways to ensure that transgender people are treated with respect in public, changing the make up of public restrooms and blurring the line between male and female is not the answer.