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Friday, September 28, 2007

The Potty’s Over

posted by on September 28 at 11:31 AM

Big news out of Minneapolis…

New dividers aimed at stopping Minneapolis airport liaisons

The crowded airport bathroom where Sen. Larry Craig was arrested is about to become an even less-inviting place for a rendezvous. Airport officials plan to put in new stall dividers just 2 to 3 inches above the floor, instead of as much as a foot now. The new dividers will go in two bathrooms where the airport has had complaints about sex, including the one where Craig was arrested.

So the potty’s over—or is it?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems to me that lower dividers are going to make stalls in this particular bathroom more attractive, not less, to toilet cruisers. Larry Craig will still be able to peer through cracks in doors, still be able to tap his foot, and still be able to run his dirty, dirty hands under the stall to signal his interest in a “rendezvous.” And after the object of Larry Craig’s affections signals his mutual interest, the senator can wait for a lull and slip into one of these new, more private stalls, and enjoy the company of his new friend with less fear of discovery than before.

Don’t bother with new stall dividers, Minneapolis. The steady stream of tourists that have been visiting the toilet that Larry Craig made famous are much a better—and much cheaper—deterrent.

RSS icon Comments

1

Ugh oh Dan, that just wasn't punny!

Posted by nelbot | September 28, 2007 11:43 AM
2

They should install those tiny half doors like in the bathrooms downstairs at Westlake Center. Or just get rid of them altogether. That'll keep those pervs out!

Posted by divided | September 28, 2007 11:52 AM
3

Grrr. Those dividers are going to make it so much harder to take my Christmas card photo.

Posted by Explorer | September 28, 2007 12:02 PM
4

The lower stall dividers will indeed make it better for cruising. It'll be that much harder to notice four legs in a stall. It's like that in Britain, and it's way easier to have sex in gay bar bathrooms there.

Posted by Gitai | September 28, 2007 12:07 PM
5

This says that the dividers will be lowered, not the door in the front. If the door is left at its normal height, people in the washroom should still be able to notice if there are one or more pairs of feet in a stall. Which is generally how I check to see if a stall is occupied anyways. Nothing disturbs the tranqility of a good shit like somebody jostling the locked door.

Posted by Bont | September 28, 2007 12:31 PM
6

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the gist of the cop and the senator's hand signals that the cop was supposed to put his junk under the stall for the senator to futz with? Anonymity, rather than toiletness, being the site's draw...

Posted by Eric F | September 28, 2007 12:34 PM
7

I have cruised those johns for years. And, for all you oafs, the game is to go somewhere else.

Have fished dozens of guys into my van over the years, never doing anything on site.

I think you under rate us MSP ers.

Or, you are just filth in Seattle.

No manner of stall up or stall down or even security on site stops gestures and eye contact, etc. Has not the straight world spent a lot of effort to stop gay men from cruising? Has it worked?

The tourists are easy prey, lots of just coming out types, all so very horny.

MSP is awash with new red hot cruising energy.

Posted by victor from MSP | September 28, 2007 1:00 PM
8

From the article dan linked to:

One of the people arrested over the summer told police he had four sexual encounters in three hours, and it was only on his fifth approach that someone objected, Hogan said.

To score with four guys in three hours, stopping only when a fifth objected, I don't think toilet boy was running to and from his van. I think he stayed in his stall.

Posted by victor's the exception | September 28, 2007 1:29 PM
9

He might have. A little anonymous bathroom sex, a little cardio, multitasking, you know?

But really, thinking that making bathrooms MORE private is not going to make things better. I'd like to meet someone with that kind of logic. Silliness.

Posted by Erin | September 28, 2007 2:04 PM
10

Wow, syntax failage there. subtract the "thinking that".

Posted by Erin | September 28, 2007 2:06 PM
11

Maybe the MSP should establish "encounter cubicles" or something. The marquee of the motel near my house growing up offered a special 4-hour "nap rate," so any guy who got lucky could take advantage of his good fortune.

Posted by victor's the exception | September 28, 2007 2:12 PM
12

Why don't they just re-design all public bathrooms. Have the partitions and door go all the way to the floor. Add small windows that raise and lower on each side of the person sitting in the stall. If you play you raise your window. If you do not want to play keep it closed. This way you keep it behind closed doors. And by all means provide note paper and a pen.

Posted by Fred | September 28, 2007 7:08 PM
13

Add small windows that raise and lower on each side of the person sitting in the stall. If you play you raise your window
Too reminiscent of the confessional -- or maybe that was the point?

Posted by dominus vobiscum | September 29, 2007 12:59 PM
14

Ah, but our task is to generate a snappy headline.
Potty's over is pretty good.

Posted by nolocontendere | September 30, 2007 12:07 AM

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