Transgender Bathroom Rights: The frontlines of discrimination today

For most of us choosing which bathroom we use is easy: we simply choose

the door that represents our biological gender. The transgender community,

however, faces some challenges. In some states, they are being forced to use the

bathroom that matched with their biology, and in others, they may use unisex or

private restrooms. Is it discrimination when they are obliged to use a bathroom

that does not represent who they feel they are? Are people using scare tactics to

implement laws forbidding the transgender community access? This paper will

take a look at whats been said, on both sides, to gain an understanding of the full

argument. It will focus on the personal experience of high school students at U32

and NECI and what this means for them first hand. Having done my research I

personally believe that not just transgender students but everyone should be able

to use the bathroom of their choice because, when it comes done to it, it's not an

issue of biological sex it's a biological function!

I was privileged to interview a student from NECI about his experiences

with this issue and what struck me was how eloquent and calm he was about the
heated issue. Here was a person who had clearly been through alot but I was

moved to hear his words. I asked first how he was treated at college and his

response was that it had always been positive which was good to hear. When I

asked him his view on the debate he basically said The debate over the

transgender bathroom debate is more than just being able to pee where I feel

comfortable. It's about society and the country as a whole viewing people with

unique gender identities as human beings deserving of basic rights. If lawmakers

and politicians won't even give these people the right to use the bathroom they

want, how will we ever move beyond this? (E Feldman) In other words, given

that we are all human beings, we should all have the same rights. I went on to ask

him about how he thought the community could bring about positive change.

His response as that educating people on transgender rights is key. Any change,

no matter how small helps. If a town adds a gender-neutral bathroom, thats a

small step but its going in the right direction. I was interested as to what he

wanted the people who opposed this bill to know. Quite simply he wants them to

know that everyone using the bathroom of their choice wont affect them.

Transgender people just want to use the bathroom, feel comfortable, and not

make others uncomfortable, just like everyone else. My final question was what

did he think the outcome of this debate would be. In the end, history will be on

our side. Society has managed to accept immigrants, people of color, gays and

lesbians and I believe our case is no different, it will just take time and

determination (E Feldman)
 To begin with, we need to look at the difference between gender and sex.

Our sex deals with our biological makeup (chromosomes) and our gender is the

characteristics we attach to ourselves as well as the influences of our culture and

the society we live in(What we feel between ours ears and above our smile!). In

this respect, there can be many interpretations of human behavior according to

gender depending on which country you live in as well as the type of person you

are. There is no simple one-size-fits-all definition, and we do not all fit neatly into

labeled boxes. For the sake of this paper, I will look at gender from the broader

context of being the identity a person equates themselves with as opposed to the

sexual organs they were born with.

So many things have changed and become lawfully acceptable even in my

lifetime. Gay marriage became legal in 2015 and in 2016 the Obama

administration sent out a statement to all educational institutions in the USA

allowing transgender people to use any bathroom they felt comfortable in. Now in

February 2017, a few weeks into Trumps presidency this has been reversed.

Along with the reversal was the threat to remove school funding for any

educational institution that did not go along with the new legislation (J Glum,

Newsweek). This reversal of policy gives schools two choices: break the law or

follow the rules, and it has started a nationwide debate with opinion divided

amongst the Republican party themselves as well as those opposed to these

measures. But social conservatives argue that President Barack Obamas policy

would allow potential sexual predators access to bathrooms and create an unsafe
environment for children (The New York Times, J Peters) and The federal

government has absolutely no right to strip parents and local schools of their

rights to provide a safe learning environment for children(The New York Times,

J Peters). While no one is arguing for any school to be unsafe for children, there

is no evidence to suggest the transgender people are sexual predators.' This

makes the above comment dangerous because not only is there no evidence to

back this up but it is also starts putting seeds of doubt into not parents but

everyones minds and perhaps making them make judgments that are not true.

Peoples civil rights entitle them to equal treatment regardless of race,

gender or if they have a disability. In other words, we are all allowed to take part

in civil and political life no matter who we are. If we look at this in regards to the

current bathroom issue, we can argue that not allowing someone to use the

bathroom that fits the gender we identify with is taking away our civil right.

Civil rights are everyones issues; they are not just state or national issues. Just

because the transgender people are in a minority group does not for one moment
make them less valid.

Does the bathroom debate echo civil rights battles from our past? From

the mid-1800s up to the 1960s, Jim Crow was a series of racial laws that

included whites only water fountains as well as segregation in schools (PBS).

During this time black people were second-class citizens. They were literally

labeled as inferior to white people on every level. Black people were not even

allowed to shake hands with a white person or even make eye contact. Not only
was the segregation physical but it was also on an emotional level. Too make

matters worse religious leaders and academics of the time endorsed this (J

Crowe Museum: Origin of J Crowe). Women have also had to fight for privacy in

bathrooms (to nurse their children), and disabled people have been excluded

from jobs where there was no viable access for them to bathrooms. People feel

exposed and vulnerable when it comes to these issues, as they should. The irony

is that the one thing we all need and use is a bathroom. To use it to highlight the

difference, in the case of transgender people, or anyone for that matter, is

humiliating at least and offensive at best.

The conservative right wing politicians use traditional family values (and

by that the dated model of the perfect heterosexual family) as its poster child.

Their view is that the fabric of society, as they know it, starts to disappear by not

only single parents (once the target of such groups), but also gay and transgender

people. The problem with this view is that families come in all shapes and sizes

and the so-called perfect family does not necessarily equal happy just as a single

parent family does not always mean unhappy.' My point is that when we get lost

in labels and what people think is the norm we forget that collectively, as human

beings, we are more similar than we are different. To target one group over

another is morally wrong.

As it stands, the LGBT community is fighting for transgender people to use

the bathroom that matches the identity they feel. By not letting them do so the

following problems arise. Firstly, by drawing attention to their difference,' they

believe that additional attention is placed on them which for many is difficult to

handle. Students in high schools have reported not going to the bathroom and

drinking less in the day to avoid having to use public bathrooms. This has led to

health issues such as urinary tract disorders and anxiety (J Glum, Newsweek).

Also, feeling supported and valued at any school is important for our mental

well-being and our ability to learn! The following statistics show that we still have

a long way to go to make this reality:

75.1% of transgender students feel unsafe at school because of their gender

expression
63.4% of transgender students reported avoiding bathrooms
41% of transgender or gender nonconforming people have attempted
suicide (Gender Spectrum)

Opinions held by those who are against transgender people using the

bathroom they want are often based on unrealistic fears. Parents worry that a

transgender person with male genitalia will molest their child. Here there is an

apparent confusion with pedophiles and transgender people. To this day there

has not been a single reported attack by a transgender person on anyone in a

bathroom (Redheaded Blackbelt) . In short, they just want to use the bathroom!!

It seems to run parallel to the Boy Scout movement banning gay men from being

Scout leaders for fear they will prey sexually on young boys. Once again this is

grounded in fear and not fact. Recently the movement lifted its ban, but we dont

applaud yet, the battle is only half won. It is still up to individual troops but

religious characters, who run 70% of the Scouts, can use religious beliefs as
criteria for selecting adult leaders, including matters of sexuality (American Civil

Liberties, Lorenzo Laing). It almost seems that just as something is given it is

immediately taken away or there's always some loop hole in the fine print.

We need to look at the issues specifically facing transgender teens aside

from the removal of their civil right to use the bathroom they choose. Some

people say that they should have their own bathrooms, but I wonder if that is just

trade off. To put it another way, does giving transgender people their own

bathroom take something away from them? I would argue that it does just that. It

takes away their right to choose and further divides them from other students; it

highlights difference when you give someone accommodations even if the

intentions are good. While some may see private or unisex bathrooms as a

privilege, many transgender people do not. As it is their debate and their opinions

that matter here, we should take them more into account and not just presume

they would be happy with an arrangement that someone who is not transgender

has come up with. As if life is not hard enough, any schools insistence that they

are segregated from their peers also sends a message that the students gender

identity is not real or valid and represents an official refutation of the childs

sense of self(Depression and High School Students). I can only imagine how

crushing that would be to a person as it reinforces difference but not in a positive

light.

America is clearly still divided on the subject with 51% for transgender

people using the bathroom of their choice (The Atlantic, Emma Green). This
shows that its only a slight majority in favor and that many people are still

against this fundamental freedom. That said the tides are starting to change, as

of two years ago there were more people against the idea than for it. Today there

are eighteen states banning discrimination by identity (CNN, Michael Pearson).

What I have learned from my reading is people are divided over this, they are

either against it or dumbfounded that it is even an issue.

One of the things that stood out to me as I read more and more on this

subject is that there are a lot of myths. First, there is the myth that transgender

men are going to harm women and children in some way. As I mentioned above,

there is no recorded incidence of this. There are, however, many reports of

transgender people being attacked both physically and verbally. In fact, a 2013

survey found that 70% of respondents reported being denied access, verbally

harassed, or physically assaulted in public restrooms (CNN, Emanuella

Grinberg). Another claim is that being transgender is just a phase or a mental

illness. The reality could not be further from the truth. The clear majority of

mainstream medical, psychiatric and psychological communities agree that being

transgender is not a concocted fantasy or mental illness. It's simply a valid state

in which one's gender does not match what was assigned at birth. (CNN, E

Grinberg) Not only is this insulting it also adds potentially harmful labels to

people and goes against medical fact. And finally, it has been said that not letting

children live the gender they are is a form of child abuse when in reality

suppressing gender expression often leads to gender dysphoria or living in

distress because you cant be who you feel you are (CNN, E Grinberg).

What steps then, can be taken, resolve this? I think it has to start and end

with education. I wonder if we walked in someone elses shoes for a day what we

would learn. I was trying to imagine what it must feel like to walk into a

bathroom and be stared at or verbally abused, or told I didnt belong or evenly

more extremely, assaulted. It is one thing to read the stories of others, but it is

another to experience what they go through. It is only through learning and

sharing information that positive change can come. At U32 health class, the

school I attend, students are allowed to use the bathroom of their choice; there

are private ones, unisex ones as well as single sex bathrooms. There are also

plenty of people to talk to around the subject for anyone who has questions. I

think my interest comes from my anger that all people are not treated equally and

that I listen to some of my peers and cant believe that they are not accepting of

others. I live in an age where women still get paid less than men; racism and

sexism are still around, and minority rights are still being fought for. I wonder if

there will ever come a time when we can all just be without fear of reprisals or

judgment. It seems that many people face daily struggles and, over many years, it

must start to wear a person down.

I find I can draw a parallel between my own experiences of being a woman

in a society that dictates I dress a certain way or I will be judged on what I wear.

Male students have told me that I dress like I have no respect for myself or my

clothes are too short and its really none of their business. It strikes me as
interesting that they feel they can comment so openly about me based on

something so mundane as my clothes. I like to express myself through my style

and I allow others to do the same. What is it as that makes us criticize and judge

others so freely? I still dont have the answers but I know that its important to

fight for any minorities rights as we have seen that judgment comes from

ignorance.

In my life, I have become friends with transgender people, but to me, they

are just my friends, I do not look at them any differently or treat them any

differently. I have listened to their stories, heard their struggles, and I feel

privileged to have them in my life. The reason they are in my life is that they are

real people. We are all many things as well as our sexual identity. If we only see

people through labels, then we are limiting what we see and creating a society of

us and them.' History has taught us how damaging this can be; racism is a case

in point. This topic is in the headlines currently, so there is a lot of information

available. States are struggling with Trumps policies, students are suing, and

people are talking. I hope that this talking brings about change in a community

that just wants to be accepted for who they are like everybody else. To quote

Nelson Mandela: Its always seems impossible until its done. He spent forty

years imprisoned by a racist South African white regime and never gave up hope.

It is up to us to draw strength from such courage and look to history for other

examples of people that bring about positive change.