Kendall Conger: Family bathroom values

Regarding the April 6 J. Peder Zane column “Laws can’t come from discomfort”: We first learn morality in the home. The traditional family is the building block of society. The state cannot be expected to produce or raise children. It has to be an act of love.

What is normative in how we raise our children regarding modesty and the bathroom or shower? As soon as they are old enough to be aware of their bodies, we no longer let the boys and girls use the bathroom and/or shower at the same time. My boy may come into the bathroom while I am showering, but not my daughter, and the two siblings may not walk into the bathroom on the opposite sex. This is by far the norm.

Is it unreasonable to expect society to keep the standards that are learned and practiced at an early age by a vast majority? I usually expect even greater respect from my children when going out in public.

The Constitution does not give anyone a “heckler veto.” We don’t have the right to silence everyone else for our singularity. Unlike Zane, I do not think that segregated bathrooms are “a relic of the Victorian era.” I think they are an appropriate extension of family values.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Kendall Conger: Family bathroom values."