The new hot button issue of the day is not over something some politician said (for once) rather, a position that a retail store has taken on the issue of public restrooms. I know I am late to the game, but I wanted time to really sit with the issue instead of immediately making a rash stance on the topic. As a Christian, it seems that many of my colleagues made their stances known quite quickly, either sharing support pictures or using the hashtag “byetarget” on various sources of social media. At first, I didn’t know how to react. So, I turned to a good friend of mine who is both a Christian and a Target employee. I wanted to ask them about how they thought about the policy ruling and how that affected their job and just their overall view in general being both an employee and a Christian. After talking with them for a good chunk of time, my feelings about the bathroom policy were cemented and I believe we came to an answer that many should give. The answer is:

I don’t know.

This is a statement that seems to have died away in the recent years, and I think it can be an incredibly wise one. Not knowing how to respond or not having an answer on a certain issue, in my eyes, looks far wiser than someone who tells me they have the right answer and you must believe it. There is not much in the Bible that explicitly deals with transgender, so we must use the wisdom that God gave us to address this social issue. My good friend and I discussed that there is always going to be that one person that yells and say hate them when we don’t automatically agree with either side but there are ways to respectfully disagree without having hate thrown around.

There is something my friend said that is something I deem pretty accurate when it comes to this issue, “I don’t believe that changing your gender is the way you deal with the problem. God made you perfect just the way you were, however, I’m still going to love you and want to get to know you. I have no idea what you’re going through and I never will. But that doesn’t mean I can’t love you.” Love and total agreeance are two separate things. I am stubborn, I don’t agree with a lot of things, but I love the people anyway.

I know there are some concerns regarding sexual predators abusing this rule, and quite frankly I share in that concern. However, my friend said something to me that made me think in a new way. They said, “Criminals don’t follow gun laws, so did you ever expect a sexual predator to follow bathroom policies?” That made me think of this issue differently. Sexual predators have been around way before these bathroom issues. Will there be a rise in sexual abuse because of this policy? I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone can know. We will have to see if some of the concerns hold true, and I think time will just have to tell with what happens.

So what then? Do we just roll over and let things happen? Do we still use public restrooms even if we feel uncomfortable? People have been uncomfortable with public restrooms regardless of the transgender policy. Luckily, there is another restroom. My friend who works as an employee has said “if someone, anyone is uncomfortable with the public bathroom whether they are transgender, male, female or a mother/father with a child there is a family bathroom available.” The family bathroom is a one stall bathroom that any can use that locks on the inside. This is available to any who aren’t comfortable with the public restrooms.

Going back to my original statement, I don’t know. I don’t know how to handle the transgender conversation and I don’t know what to do with the restroom policy. What I do know is that I am a man who loves God and has been instructed to love others. Will I boycott Target? Probably not, but I don’t shop their anyway because the dollar store across the street from campus is so much more appealing. Will I shop at Target if I need something? I don’t see why not. Not everyone agrees with my point of view, and I don’t agree with others point of view. But if I let that stop me from interacting with the people whom God loves, then I think that is where I fail.