Thanks greyhound for the bizarre bathroom sexism: another case for gender neutral bathrooms

I took the greyhound bus about a week ago for the first time.  I certainly had my reservations about the greyhound because I’ve heard  many a  horror story, but I wasn’t expecting anything besides the ride to be smelly and uncomfortable. Oh no, I got some bizarre bathroom sexism that still makes me upset every time I think about it.
We stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere at another greyhound station.  The driver shouted out to us if we got off the bus we’d have five minutes to be back on it or he’d leave us.  I needed to pee so I scurried off the bus at full speed to get to the bathroom.  Another woman had the same idea as me, and scurried even faster.  She made it to the urination station before me.  It was a one person bathroom, but I though it was no biggie because she probably wouldn’t take that long. I was wrong.

I got antsy and worried that the bus would leave me the minute it was my turn to get in the stall. Then I thought to myself “why don’t I just try the mens?” They were single stall, so it didn’t matter anyway.  So I thought.
I tried the handle.
Locked.
I went to the man behind the counter and said “The bus is going to leave in five minutes, I really have to pee, can you just unlock the boys bathroom?”

He looked at me coldly and said “No.” That was it. Just no!

Jerk.

I resumed my place in line, a bit disgruntled and feeling the uncomfortable pressure of my full bladder get even worse.
Tick tock tick tock.
Bladder bursting.
I went back over to the counter and looked at the man and said “Why?!”  It didn’t make any sense that he wouldn’t help a person in need that needed to pee.  What did it matter  to anyone if I used the men’s bathroom especially if it was a single stall?  He looked past me, and pretended I didn’t say anything.  Just plain ignored me.  I held back my urge to just piss on the floor in the corner to make him angry and make him think twice before gender policing the bathroom, alas I refrained.
At that point another woman from the bus came in, and headed for the bathroom so I ran to back to take my place. We waited. Then she said kind of to herself “what’s the hold up?”  I replied, sending a salty look in the man behind the counter’s direction “Someone’s in the women’s and he won’t let me use the men’s bathroom even though it’s single stall!”.
She, like me found this friggin’ ridiculous, so SHE went to go talk to the man behind the counter to reason with him. While she (attempted) to reason with the  man behind the counter, another man came in and overheard the whole thing.  This kind, wonderful man declared to man behind the counter “I need to use the bathroom!”, to which counter man had no choice but to unlock the bathroom and the kind man let me in.

Finally.

I pulled down my pants just as the floodgates were about to burst-
Pants down I heard the handle start to turn!  The friggin man behind the counter had just let the BUS DRIVER in!
The bus driver takes one look at me with my pants down and staring at my bottom half says “This is a boys bathroom!”  I mean wtf…. My natural response to walking in on anyone with their pants down, anywhere, would be an apology, not to demand them to GTFO.  I see over his shoulder that the woman across the way finally leaving her stall so I hoisted my pants back up and made a mad dash to the woman’s bathroom.  I was so upset about what happened I couldn’t pee!  I felt so violated, I was shaking, I couldn’t even wait to calm down because I knew the bus was about to leave any minute.  I climbed back on the bus, the bladder situation not resolved.  I sat on that bus, for hours, knowing that the bus driver knew what I looked like with my pants down, awful.

This is just another example of the problem with single sex bathrooms and the need for more gender neutral bathrooms.  It’s completely ridiculous to deny someone a perfectly private single stall bathroom based on what gender they identify with (or in his case what gender he assumed I identify as). I recognize that people need a safe space when going to the bathroom which sometimes calls for a traditional single sex bathrooms.  But this situation had nothing to do with creating a safe atmosphere. This situation was about enforcing his power to separate people by what he assumed their sex is into problematic categories.  It was about keeping a overly simplistic traditional gendered status quo intact.  It was about separating “the girls and the boys” and not leaving room for any deviation from the norm. Disgusting.