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 equates

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 law forbidding them

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 what this means for them first hand.

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.

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 human you are.

There are no simple one-size-fits-all definitions, 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. (1) This reversal of policy gives schools two choices: break the law or folllow

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 (2) 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(3). 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 not evidence to back this up but it is also starts putting seeds

of doubt into peoples minds and perhaps making them make judgments that are not

true.

The question we should ask is whether this is a civil rights issue. Does the

bathroom debate echo civil rights battles from our past? From the mid-1800s up to the

1960s Jim Crowe was a series of racial laws that included whites only water fountains

as well as segregation in schools. (4) 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 is humiliating at least and offensive at best.

The conservative right wing polittions use traditional family values (and by that

the dated perfect heterosexual family) as its poster child. Their view is that the fabric of

society, as they know it, starts to disapear 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. (4) Also, feeling supported and valued at any school is important
for our mental well-being and to in general 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 (5)

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. (6) To this day though there has not been a single

reported attack by a transgender person on anyone in a bathroom. In short, they just

want to use the bathroom!! It seems to run parallel to the 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. It is still up to individual troops but religious charters, who run 70% of the

scouts, can use religious beliefs as criteria for selecting adult leaders, including matters

of sexuality (7) It almost seems that just as something is given it is immediately taken

away.
 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 say that they should

have their bathrooms, but I wonder if that is just trade off. To put it another way, does

giving transgender people their bathroom take something away from them? I would

argue that it does just that. It takes away their right to choose and further divies them.

As if life is not hard enough, the schools insistence that they are segregated from their

peer 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. (8) I can only imagine how

crushing that would be to a person.

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

using the bathroom of their choice. (9) 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. (10) What I have

learned from my reading is people are divided over this, they are either against 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

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. (12) 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 form of

child abuse when the reality is suppressing this often leads to gender dysphoria or living

in distress because you cant be who you feel you are. (13)

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. I

think my interest comes from my anger that all people are not treated equally. I live in

an age where women still get paid less than men; racism and sexism are still around,

and minority rights are 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.

What I hope to gain personally is an understanding as to why transgender people

face this struggle and, more importantly, what steps we can all take to ensure that the
fundamental right of going to the bathroom is just that and not a political issue. If we

can agree that all knowledge is useful in one way of another then any insight and depth I

gain from studying this topic in full will only broaden my horizons and give me a deeper

insight into the lives other people live. My hope is that it opens up the debate in my

school and serves a purpose. The more people have an understanding of whats going on

the more they will see why it matters so much. The hope is that we can all become

advocates for positive change for others and ourselves.

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.' 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.

Reference:

http://www.newsweek.com/transgender-bathrooms-schools-laws-research-583210 (1)

(4)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/devos-sessions-transgender-studen

ts-rights.html?_r=0 (2)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws

/ (3)

https://www.genderspectrum.org/bathroomfaq/ (5)
https://www.lambdalegal.org/know-your-rights/article/trans-restroom-faq (6)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4s62u8pe6q66uy2/Transgender%20Students%20and%2
0School%20Bathrooms%20-%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions.pdf?dl=0 (7)

https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/dont-clap-just-yet-boy-scouts (8)

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/half-of-americans-dont-think-t
ransgender-people-should-be-able-to-pick-their-bathroom/501947/ (9)

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/us/transgender-bathroom-policies/ (10)

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/health/transgender-bathroom-law-facts-myths/
(11) (12) (13)

http://www.equalityfederation.org/?gclid=CJaRmM6ph9QCFUmHswodkcACEA
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/us/transgender-bathroom-policies/