The move will cost taxpayers in Oregon’s largest city a cool $195,000,000, but such is the price of social justice. The justice in this case will be a remodeling of the Portland Building (aka the Portland Municipal Services Building) so as to exclude, among other things, urinals from the men’s bathrooms.
Needless to say, public restrooms have figured largely in the news over the past several years. Even urinals have received some attention. (RELATED: Muslim preacher rages against public urinals, says Allah will punish ‘splash back’ on shoes) But what have these plumbing conveniences done to incur the wrath of West Coast liberals? They have been “non-inclusive” because women can’t use them. And we can’t have any of that nasty discrimination going on.
NBC affiliate KGW8 explains for the uninitiated that urinals “are porcelain receptors without seats or lids that allow men to quickly relieve themselves.” But is that all that can be said on behalf of the lowly urinal?
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Not hardly. Urinals use way less water per flush than conventional sit-down toilets. The difference — as little as 1 pint compared with 1.3 gallons — is considerable. Where is the outrage from environmentalists over this miscarriage of environmental justice, or is this another instance of where the needs of one protected class take precedence over the needs of another. (RELATED: Muslim barber refuses to cut hair of lesbian: Whose rights trump whose?)
Then there are the health issues. Some men (a pox on them!) pee with the seat down. But another health concern arises out of men leaving the seat up after they pee:
…[T]here’s a scientifically sound reason that both genders should be putting down the seat and the lid prior to flushing. A flushing toilet creates atomized toilet water that enters the air around the bathroom. If there are bacteria in the toilet — and there are always bacteria in the toilet — it enters the atmosphere. Closing the lid reduces the vaporizing, bacteria-spreading effects of the flush.
