Call it the Big Uneasy.
A local man has voiced his concerns to the City Council over bathroom rights stemming from an influx of crossdressers expected to arrive downtown on Saturday.
“I heard someone talking the other day about how all these transgenders are coming to town to do Lord knows what,” Allen McCrory, a transplant from North Carolina and pastor at Bourbon Street’s First Church of Girls Girls Girls and Bail Bonds said.
“What I do know is they are going to have to use the facilities at some point and I’m not comfortable with that. Not at all.”
Saturday is the Red Dress Run, an annual crossdressing race in which thousands of participants overtake the French Quarter and surrounding areas in debauchery.
“What if one of my girls is popping a squat in between her performances and a drunk guy dressed like a woman happens to wander into the women’s bathroom and chooses to take a dump? That puts her, me, and my business in a very dangerous situation.”
McCrory said he believes the city needs to protect business owners who feel their bathroom rights are threatened.
“Number one, the whole situation pisses me off. Number two, beer shits are not funny. I’m not cleaning that up. Are you?”
John Dikeman, a spokesperson for the Alliance of French Quarter Businesses, said Mr. McCrory speaks only for himself and is not a reflection of New Orleans.
“New Orleans is one of the most accepting cities in the nation and we welcome the Red Dress Run and their people,” Dikeman said.
“Whether it’s taking a whiz or pinching a loaf, we believe it is every person’s right to choose how they use a bathroom and no one else should ever be allowed to interfere with that. Do you know what that smell on Bourbon Street is? Freedom.”