Safety in Restrooms
To the editor:
Our trans siblings have experienced violence and a lack of safety in our public restrooms. They have asked to be seen, heard, included, and safe for years.
We have looked the other way for too long. Provincetown’s public restrooms have not been in compliance with Mass. law since 2016. Town meeting voted unanimously this year to begin the process of rectifying our public restrooms being out of moral and legal compliance.
Our town government and working group took these steps: making all public restrooms gender inclusive; putting up ADA compliant and other signs marking the change; and training town staff including restroom attendants on the law behind the change, why it is morally the right thing to do, and what the next steps are. Those include seeking design and cost options for retrofitting all public restrooms to be both gender and ADA compliant.
Some recent comments on social media expose deep misogyny, not so thinly veiled transphobia, and profound male privilege. Those comments have consistently ignored the voices of trans folks who are unsafe and under attack across our country and in our beloved Provincetown.
Throughout our queer community’s history, it is lesbian, trans, and nonbinary folks who have led the way and answered the call. We are the ones who took care of our gay siblings when they were dying of AIDS. We are the ones who were there when few others would be. We are the ones who risked and gave so much emotionally, physically, and spiritually because we love our gay siblings, know that we are stronger together, and will always do what our community needs.
It is time to come home and get in the game. There is too much at stake nationally for us to not be together communally.
Erin Splaine
Provincetown
Phragmites vs. Spartina
To the editor:
In “Park Service Nears Completion of Dike at Mill Creek” (June 26, page A8), the Cape Cod National Seashore’s chief of natural resources management and science, Geoff Sanders, reported that the Mill Creek subbasin would be cleared of Phragmites and displaced with native Spartina cordgrasses if and when the dike at Mill Creek is opened. He and retired Seashore ecologist John Portnoy justified that action with some statements about Phragmites that are refuted by scientific evidence and other ecologists.
Sanders said, “Spartina will perform the same types of services that Phragmites does and probably provide even more benefits.” The Critical Area Commission for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays contradicts this prediction in a fact sheet: “The aggressive, fast growth of Phragmites makes it useful for holding soil and protecting eroding shorelines. All wetlands can sequester carbon, but as a larger plant with deeper roots, Phragmites takes up two to three times as much carbon as native shorter cordgrasses in Chesapeake Bay.”
Portnoy suggested that the negative effects of Phragmites include decreased species diversity. Again, the Chesapeake experts disagree, writing, “Numerous animals use Phragmites for roosting and escape from predators. There is no question that invasive Phragmites outcompetes native wetland plant species such as the low-growing salt meadow hay (Spartina patens) [in providing] food and nesting habitat for many ducks, geese, and other marsh birds.”
Richard Kane, retired vice president of conservation at the New Jersey Audubon Society, concluded that Phragmites is important for several endangered and threatened species. Kane reported that several nesting birds, such as the ruddy duck and American coot, nested only in Phragmites.
Phragmites’ abundant ecological benefits surpass those of Spartina, which the Herring River Restoration proponents hope will dominate the marsh ecosystem when the project is fully implemented.
Ronald A. Gabel
Yarmouth Port
Wit and Wisdom
To the editor:
Dennis Minsky is a town treasure. And I hope he lives forever so you can continue to publish his “Year-Rounder” column. His writing is genuine, kind, heartfelt, and funny. It inspires me to be a better person every time I read what he has to say.
Thank you for sharing his wit and wisdom with us readers.
Annette Andruss
Provincetown
Letters to the Editor
The Provincetown Independent welcomes letters from readers on all subjects. They must be signed with the writer’s name, home address, and telephone number (for verification). Letters will be published only if they have been sent exclusively to the Independent. They should be no more than 300 words and may be edited for clarity, accuracy, conciseness, and good taste. Longer pieces (up to 600 words) may be submitted for consideration as op-ed commentary. Send letters to [email protected] or by mail to P.O. Box 1034, Provincetown, MA 02657. The deadline for letters is Monday at noon for each week’s edition.
