Georgia Grocery Store Takes Heat for Sign Defending Unisex Bathroom Policy

A Kroger grocery store in Georgia is taking criticism after posting a sign defending its unisex bathroom policy.

Kroger recently added a unisex bathroom to its store in Atlanta but apparently felt the need to post a sign defending its decision after obviously taking some in-person criticism at its service counter. But instead of settling the issue, the sign brought the store even more criticism after a customer took a snap shot of it and posted the image to social media.

The sign reads: “We have a unisex bathroom because sometimes gender specific toilets put others into uncomfortable situations. And since we have a lot of friends coming to see us, we want to provide a place for our friends who are:

• Dads with daughters
• Moms with sons
• Parents with disabled children
• Those in the LGBTQ community
• Adults with aging parents who may be mentally or physically disabled

The sing started a firestorm on Facebook. A post by Facebooker Tonya Owens from March 26 has been shared over 93,000 times garnering both positive and negative comments.

Many posters thought it was a good idea, while some felt it was just a nod to PCism and a way for the store to act as if it was doing a good thing all the while getting out of having to pay the costs of installing a third bathroom for unisex users.

But still other commenters were annoyed, some even outraged, by the sign and the store’s policy.

One said the policy was “sheer insanity,” while another said he’d never let his young daughter use an LBGT bathroom. Another Facebook user said he was “not willing to change bathroom standards for 2% of the population.” Several even worried that “perverts” would hover around the bathrooms in hopes of exploiting children, and a female commenter warned Kroger, “my daughter wont shop there and neither will I.”

The controversy over bathrooms and how to cater to the tiny number of purportedly “transgender” people has been growing all across the U.S. — from our schools and the workplace to public facilities and stores, the issue has brought much debate. But how many people do these policies affect? A recent story at LiveScience.com noted that perhaps up to 700,000 Americans claim some form of being transgender. That amounts to only about .2 percent of our over 300 million population.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.