All Is Fair

by Lauren Dow
Journalism Intern

Artist Peregrine Honig stops the bathroom debate at the door with her new design. The piece, titled “Compliant,” depicts a half-male half-female Unicode symbol and tells the user “WE DON’T CARE” in bold white font and in Braille below.

The sign is available through Honig’s company All Is Fair in Love and Wear and is fabricated by Midtown Signs in Kansas City. Ten percent of profits from the sign will be donated to the KC Care Clinic - a strong advocate and supporter of the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

All is fair “believe[s] the future is Non-Binary, and quite frankly, [they] don't care who uses [their] bathroom because ALL are welcome.” This philosophy highlights the invasiveness of bathroom restrictions, and seeks to create a safe that feels safe to all.

Peregrine Honig began All Is Fair to produce more than signs, they are currently working to produce a line of intimates: binders, enhancers, contour garments, loungewear and daywear for a “transcending community.” The company is both gallery and manufacturer, hosting trans-inclusive events in their new space.

Honig truly puts her ideals into practice, using All Is Fair to help provide an audible voice for the transgender community. The All Is Fair space is entirely built around inclusion and comfort. Every aspect, from the tiled bathroom called the “Safe Room” to the pool-inspired floor, is meant to be non-binary and gender inclusive.

According to Honig, Compliant originated “to protest House Bill 2, a bill that restricted human rights.” She says, “I’m the first grandchild of a holocaust survivor and my family raised me to believe that it takes a village to stop a monster. My grandfather’s life was saved by non-Jews and later in his life he hosted a family of Muslims. When bathrooms were segregated in America it wasn’t just based on color - white bathrooms were divided by gender and black bathrooms were not.”

Compliant is reactionary in the best way—taking the invasiveness of bathroom bills and their endless wake, and making it a positive statement, pointing out the tenacity and compassion between people who experience oppression.

The sign is catching on across the country; North Carolina-based 21c Museum Hotels has commissioned signs for each of their locations. Their choice was explained in a recent release, “21c feels this installation gives the community another way to engage in conversation around this important issue. First and foremost, this is a human issue.  21c simply opposes discrimination.”

Recent legislation has created plenty of backlash within the LGBT community. Although Compliant may appear to be just a sign, Honig said of the piece and the effort to use it to promote inclusion, “Our species loves the romance and idea of a Trojan Horse, but no war is won, and no problems are solved packing everything into one place and expecting a flawless win. All Is Fair has been an army of Trojan Mice.”

Chae Modern Korean in Oklahoma City is one of the businesses now displaying the sign. Daniel Chae, the restaurant’s owner said, “Our signs read ‘We Don't Care,’ but in fact, we care quite a bit. Equality and dignity for the transgender community is for many reasons one of the last, great civil rights frontiers of our time.”

The new sign was “a no brainer” according to Chae, who chose the sign because “It's ADA-compliant with Braille, a portion goes to a Care Clinic and it's autographed by an amazing artist.”

Chae said that they knew the signs might anger some customers, but said “ultimately, we didn't care if people were going to get upset. And to our guests' credit, there hasn't been a single complaint. Now more than ever, we're proud to be standing on the right side of history as an ally.”

The sign choice was born out of political climate. “This past legislative session, along with the many before it, Oklahomans were witness to some of the most harmful proposals ever facing any community, let alone a community with children and teens,” Chae said, “And then with Oklahoma going the way of North Carolina on bathroom laws, the very least we could do was to make bathroom trips easier.”

Honig’s piece, Compliant, is available for purchase on her website, www.allisfairinloveandwear.com.

The Gayly – July 7, 2016 @ 7:20 a.m.