My fellow Californians, a long overdue “change” is making its way to the State Assembly in Sacramento, as we speak, and the revolution will NOT be televised!
Senate bills Sb1358 and Sb1350, aka the Diaper Mandate, have cleared the California State Senate Transportation and Housing Committee in an effort to give us men equal access to baby changing stations in public restrooms. The outdated practice of installing these flip down tables in women’s rooms only is to be tossed out like Huggies® in a Diaper Genie®!
As a state that has been, historically, on the forefront of many a cultural revolution, I say we raise our diaper-clenching fists in solidarity with dads everywhere!
Would Che Guevara have changed little Aleida’s dirty diapers in a muddy field? Perhaps. I’d have to Google that.
Would Mutulu Shakur have unsnapped baby Tupac’s Hug Life onesie on a gas station bathroom’s floor to do the deed? Maybe.
But we dads shouldn’t HAVE to!
As one of the bill’s sponsors, California Senator Ricardo Lara, put it in a statement released to FoxNews.com,
“As the demographics of the modern American family evolve, traditional gender roles with women as the primary caregiver for the children are changing, and men are becoming more and more involved in the care of their young children…There are also a growing number of same-sex households with children. The bill also ensures that public facilities for changing babies’ diapers are equally available to both men and women.”
Californians, F.D.R told us to,
“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists!”
Are we so quick to forget the pivotal role our Golden State played in the struggles of the UFW? The Free Speech Movement at U.C. Bezerkely?! The Anti-war protests? The successful campaign to make Medical Marijuana readily available for sufferers of everything from tuberculosis to a tummy ache?!
None of those incredibly complex and hard fought battles have anything to do with changing diapers but they do lend themselves nicely to the OUTRAGED REVOLUTIONIST tone I am typing in.
To the conservative naysayers that are RIGHT NOW criticizing these bills as just another costly government regulation, are YOU so quick to forget your own “Freedom Isn’t Free” hullabaloo?
I say, how much is EQUALITY worth to you?!
I AM THE 99%! (Or at least I am the more than 2.5 million fathers in the United States alone who are raising their children full-time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.)
So Californians, put down your sushi boats and pinot stemware and take a stand! Like DiaperDad, Scotty Schrier, a man whom I’d like to think is at least partially responsible for this REVOLUTION, does every day on his site, Dads Who Change Diapers where I frequently utilize his ingenious National Mens Room Changing Station Locater. I encourage ALL DADS WITH BLADDERS to take note the next time you free willy to drain the main vein in a public restroom. Add to Scotty’s locator. Overburdened moms could use a break and dads everywhere, single dads, gay dads, great dads the world over will appreciate you for it!
Stay tuned for more BREAKING REPORTS from the frontlines, Californians and non Californians alike! Write your Congresswomen(men)! Draw up your “PARITY FOR PUBLIC POTTIES,” signage! Take it all the way to the White House, if you feel so inclined, because, together, YES. WE. CAN. get off of our cramped and squatting duffs in public restrooms and take baby out of that greasy truck stop sink and do our daddying duties like dignified men! Like men with equal changing station rights.
Restroom regulators…mount up!
Ciao for now,
Dada Mike
I like it. Equal access for dads to deal with shit. Thankfully Seattle is pretty good about that. Other places in the country not so much. Bring it on!
Gawd bless the progressive Pacific Northwest!
I see these in men’s rooms in Missouri quite often. Can anyone actually be against this?
I have only seen that opponents site cost and overreach, but I haven’t seen who those opponents are. The proposed bills actually seem logically structured. Exemptions appear to be reasonable.
I hate when I go into a bathroom that doesn’t have a changing table… Yet my wife comes out saying she had one in hers.
Exaaaaactly. Thanks for reading!
So, are you offering to pay for each establishment to buy them and offer to help install them for free? I didn’t think so. Has anyone made requests of the store to install them? Maybe if they get enough requests they’d voluntarily install them. No, lefties only think of use of force by government. And yes, I’ve changed more than my share of diapers on my two kids.
Thanks for reading Mark. Am I offering to pay for each establishment to buy them? Of course not. $200 x “each” is WAY outside my budget. But if I were a business owner in my area, especially a large, public business owner (ala theatres, shopping centers, etc) I might be able to break off a little change to see that my establishment reflected the changing demographic of my patrons. That being said, I haven’t seen much logistical analysis yet other than the paltry, sub-$200 pricetag on a single changing table. And there is a big difference in the scope of the two bills. One basically says if you are planning to install a changing table, it has to be accessible to both men and women. Sounds pretty sound to me. Jury’s still out on the more strict of the two, mandating that all “big”, public, businesses and any business undergoing a +$10k renovation HAVE to put one in both men’s and women’s restrooms. I can’t speak for “anyone” else but I have, recently, talked to my city about installing them in park facilities, something I have seen taking place of late. I, too, wish we didn’t have to rely on elected officials to force businesses to operate equitably.
A two hundred dollar changing table is cheaper than having to put in a FAMILY bathroom, with a request key notice, so that any parent or supervising adult has access for changing a baby, dealing with a small kid, or whatever!
Well how abou that a righty saying its lefties fault…I’m pretty sure this parenting thing should be an ambidextrous issue…I’m a righty and I call establishments out on not having changing tables…I get nowhere but some people don’t feel empowered enough to speak up for themselves.
Oh and I changed my fair share of diapers doesn’t make your point any more valid. It makes you sound cynical.
Not sure I follow who the “righty” and “lefty” are in your scenario. I should hope parents of all political affiliations can see the logic in the push for change.
Funny story, there is a restaurant that I frequent that only has a changing table in the men’s room. The women’s restroom doesn’t have one. I find it particularly interesting because it is a sushi restaurant.
Props for taking such a dry subject and adding some of your humor to it. I hadn’t heard of the Men’s Changing Room Locator, but it sounds like a brilliant idea!
Being permitted to use the ladies room is not a consolation prize. It’s an insult and not a solution. It’s a problem and I am uncomfortable with it.