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Man With ALS Shares Poignant Story Showing Solidarity With Trans Community

"I am a bad hombre. I am a man who regularly uses the women's restroom."

A man suffering from the devastating effects of ALS shared a story on Facebook about an encounter he had in a public bathroom—not to draw attention to his condition, but to bring awareness to what transgender people face on a daily basis.

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Posting in Pantsuit Nation, he revealed that, because of his disability, he needs assistance when going to the restroom and usually uses the facilities that match the gender of his caregiver at the time. Since that's usually his wife or daughter, that usually means the women's room.

"Stuart" is a quadriplegic and can no longer speak. "I move around in one of those bulky power wheelchairs," he writes. "You can see braces holding my head and I'm skeleton like thin. A computer screen hangs directly in front of my face."

And yet, he reveals, "some consider me a threat to women and girls because I have a penis."

Last summer, when nature called, Stuart and his wife, Judy, went into a nearby restroom.

As we were struggling my chair past a women's room door that didn't want to open wide a teenage girl help us by holding the door open. Once we were in a middle age woman stated I should not be in there. Judy explained the situation and said we will be out of the way very soon when the woman she exclaimed, "But he's a man!"

My mind raced through several funny retorts, enough to make me laugh to myself. (This was one of those times when everyone who knows me all agree that is good I could not speak.)

Judy told the woman to step aside and then headed for the handicapped stall without any fanfare. Just taking care of business.

Rather than pandering for sympathy, Stuart recounted the tale because he felt "my troubles using public restrooms pales in comparison to those who are transgender. At least people don't call me names or threaten me with bodily harm."

With Stuart's home state of Texas primed to pass an odious bathroom bill like HB2, he says it's essential "to stop sexualizing the restroom and think of its true purpose."

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