Imagine having to go to the bathroom of the opposite sex. For a brief moment, you have to reveal yourself, and being in a completely opposite gendered place can make you feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. This is what it feels like to be transgender using a public restroom. They are in a constant battle to fit into society's norm, they are either uncomfortable going in their “same” sex bathroom in which they don’t feel like they belong, and the place they truly feel is right, they are given the uncomfortableness of judgmental looks from their “opposite” sex.
It’s not our society's fault for believing that seeing a presence of a person of the opposite sex in that same bathroom. The acceptance of transgender persons is fairly new and hasn’t been put into much consideration of how it affects the society as a whole. But there is a call for change, that will allow for the true acceptance of transgender people, this is by permitting them into the restrooms they feel the most comfortable in.
State legislation has allowed for the voted decision on whether or not those who identify themselves as transgender, to use the restroom they identify themselves with. These are called the Bathroom Bills and they have the power to discriminate or to not discriminate against transgender persons.
The moral choice is to advocate for transgender rights. But people like Ted Cruz give these bathroom bills a negative connotation by saying that it is like “putting little girls alone in a bathroom with adult men.” The presence of heterosexual men in a women’s bathroom is not the topic of the bathroom bills, but that’s all that it is becoming. This scare is truly made up from those who fear change and are selfish because they choose to not understand the perspective of transgendered people and their struggles. All the bathroom bills are merely an anti-discrimination bill, giving protection to those who don’t feel comfortable with their given gender, not to sexual predators. They say history repeats itself, are we going to let discrimination happen again? Not only is what people like Ted Cruz are saying discriminating against transgender persons, but it is causing a fear and giving those who are transgender a bad reputation of saying that those who are transgender are also sexual predators.
Well, their fears aren't based in reality, and their values lead to people getting hurt and killed. Why should I respect such beliefs, values or fears?
Yes, I belittle the fear that trans women will attack people. They've been going into women's bathrooms for years and nothing has ever happened. Also, there are laws against voyeurism in restrooms already, regardless of gender.
Yes, I impugn the sincerity of people who are just *so scared* of cis men pretending to be trans women to get access to women's bathrooms, but don't care that they send their sons in alone with cis men into men's bathrooms. Cis men are the sexual predators in this story, why aren't they scared for their sons and themselves? Could it be that they aren't actually sincere about their position?
No one is saying you aren't allowed to be irrationally scared of people. You simply aren't allowed to project your fears into the public space and hurt other people because of it. Your fears are your problems, not the problem of the trans people who are around you.
There is absolutely nothing that would encourage sexual predators to commit acts of assault from an anti-discrimination bill. People opposed represent those who reflect a lack of education of transgender people by cis gender individuals. It isn’t a choice to feel that you were given the wrong gender, and you shouldn’t feel discriminated against for being born that way. Now this bill doesn’t get rid of or create any problems of assault. Many men and women declare themselves as homosexual, the amount of risk for sexual assault is the same as it would be to allow transgender persons in their “opposite” sex restrooms because assault is an issue of sexuality, not gender identification.
Discrimination should never be overlooked. It is caused by fear - not an excuse for fear. So long as you walk into your stall, do your business, wash your hands, and then leave, who cares what your gender is?
