Recently, there has been an uproar of debates on the topic of gender neutral bathrooms. Most of the debates have had to deal with the LGBTQ+ community trying to use the bathroom they identify with. However, these debates have mainly focused on transgenders, “transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate” (GLADD). There has been several bills that “have been filed in three states to prevent transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity” (Tannehill). Kentucky has tried to pass bills that target transgender students, but the bill in Texas and Florida would apply to everywhere (Tannehill). There are many different sides to this …show more content…
Florida’s, Texas’s and Kentucky’s new proposed bathroom laws have “caused fear and dismay among transgender people around the country” (Tannehill). Kentucky laws are more focused on the school systems but Florida 's and Texas’s laws treat transgenders as if they were criminals. Both of these states have regulations that will give transgenders civil and or criminal charges for using the bathroom they identify with (Tannehill). A transgender could be charged a fine for using the wrong bathroom and “people who report a transgender people in the bathroom to claim civil damages, for example a bounty” (Tannehill). Florida and Texas are trying to look out for the best interest of the majority population, however, “we all have to use the bathroom, but these laws would seemingly force transgender people to choose between fines and jail, risking horrific violence or leaving the state” (Tannehill). These laws have been seen as unreasonable to the transgender community and have been fought by the ACLU lawyer Joshua Block, “We’re talking about people who also have their sense of privacy and modesty, and who are not going to want to have everyone see an anatomical part of themselves that they feel should never have been there in the first place,” (Marcus). It has also been found that it’s illegal for employers to carry out such rules, “The Equal Employment …show more content…
Not only did Target change their bathrooms to become gender neutral so did other well known businesses, “Barnes & Noble and Hudson 's Bay Company, also have policies explicitly allowing transgender people to use a bathroom that does not correspond to their birth certificate gender” (Abrams). Businesses have not been the only ones to change their policies with gender-neutral bathrooms, schools are starting to do the same, “Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, has designated two bathrooms as gender-neutral”
In the article N.C. Gov. Already Enforcing HB 2 with Trespassing Laws by Trudy Ring states that the governor of North Carolina says he will use trespassing laws to enforce the restroom provisions of House Bill 2, while officials of the state university says they won’t enforce the controversial law at all. "We 're using trespassing laws that we were using before House Bill 2, we 're using that now," he told reporters, according to a video. It also talks about a transgender case in Virginia regarding a boy who transgendered himself from female to male and was denied access to the school boys’ bathroom. This essay traces how governor of North Carolina, McCrory uses power, discrimination, and transphobia to deny transgender people the right to use the restroom based on their gender identity.
In recent years 18 states have enacted laws to help protect transgender and non – binary people, but there are still some states unwilling to get with the program. Kentucky State Sen. C.B. Embry Jr. introduced a bill that seeks to ban transgender students from using school bathrooms that match their gender identity, it would also enable students to sue schools for $2,500 if they encounter a transgender peer using what they perceive to be the wrong restroom. (unsure how to site). In Florida there is a law going though the process that states
Recently, in a poorly written article for The Federalist, Mrs. Nicole Russell let her feelings about allowing transgender people in the bathroom that best matches their gender identities known. In her uneducated opinion expressed in “The Sexes: Don’t Put My Five-Year-Old Girl In A Bathroom With A Transgender Boy” Mrs. Russell claims that transgender people should stick to the gender, and by default, the bathroom that was assigned to them at birth.
When a transgender person uses the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity, it boosts well-being. It is legal to for transgender individuals to use whichever bathroom they feel to be is more beneficial. Many schools and states are trying to appeal this law. When the South Dakota House of Representatives were faced with the option to veto this law they chose to keep the law in place (“South Dakota House”). New York has also reinforced transgender individual’s right to choosing a bathroom (“New York mayor”).
Early April 2016, North Carolina passed a law restricting governments from passing laws that are discriminatory. This law is intended to protect Transgender people from discrimination. Discrimination against Transgenders is against the law, and it has stirred up arguments throughout the nation. With more and more people standing up against discrimination regarding Transgenders, the debate about Transgenders is now nationwide. Unfortunately, Transgenders still continue to face public discrimination due to misinformation and misleading statements from the media.
Tash. "Trans and Gender Non-conforming People, Bathrooms, and Attacks on Our Community." Basic Rights Oregon RSS. N.p., 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 21 May 2014.
Transgender Rights and Gender Neutral Bathrooms Cassidy Howell No one wants to feel like they do not belong or like they are not cared for. Transgender people are just like everyone else and deserve to be treated equally as cisgendered people. According to Sam Killerman, being transgendered means living "as a member of a gender other than that expected based on sex assigned at birth. " This definition is extremely important because a transgender person is still a person.
Most transgenders are most likely just like us normal people, but certain circumstances call for certain measures and this is one of those cases. There is nothing against them personally, just having separate bathrooms is just a thing that needs to be set in place to protect everyone, including transgenders.
Many people are arguing over the transgender bathroom situation, even here in our very own school system, Grace Christian Academy. Some say one should use the restroom of his/her biological identity, while others say one should have the right to use the restroom they gender identify with. Now the issue is starting to arise in public and private school systems, since the law now states every school has to have at least one transgender bathroom available on school property. As a parent with a child in your school system, I would like to express my opinion on this matter with you. Even though this is a private Christian school, and I am a Christian myself, I do not see a problem with having a transgender bathroom on school property for multiple reasons. For example,
Furthermore, as there are only male and female identities on the ID cards, and there are only male and female’s washrooms, many transgender people have faced serious insults and discriminations in the public. These serious insults happen almost every day in their life and it has caused severe mental stress on them, which would lead them to have emotional disorders and depressions. They are facing unequally in the public utilities and services. The transgender community should have the right to use the restroom of the gender they identify with or have an alternate choice. Transgender people deserve the right to have access to a comfortable, safe place to go to the restroom just as any other human being. Yes, it could potentially be a dangerous liability, but remember the feelings of the people who live in the wrong body. A safe way for the trans community to use the restroom would be to give the option of a gender neutral facility. The problems that the transgender people are facing are not just some emotional harmfulness; it is some problems and inequalities that would seriously endanger their lives, like health cares and life-threatening behaviors which are caused by the ongoing
North Carolina’s discriminatory HB2 law is extremely disappointing, and it takes away some of the LGBT community’s most basic rights and protections” (Smith). I completely agree with Jonas, Lovato and Springsteen. This law needs to be abolished very soon. There should be a law implementing gender neutral bathrooms everywhere, so transgender people can feel comfortable and safe, no matter where they are. Transgender people should have the right to go to work, not feel discriminated against, and be able to use the bathroom safely.
The issue of gender neutral bathrooms and transgender bathrooms is a hot topic right now in North America. Some people are strongly for it and others are going to great lengths to stop it. The majority of public bathrooms in Canada and The United States of America are gender segregated. Public bathrooms are one of the last places to still be separated by gender. Men and women work with each other, sit next to each other in restaurants, use public pools together, and much more. A bathroom with a locked stall, or single occupancy washrooms with a lock, should not be much different. When the idea was raised by the LGBTQIA*+ community to have transgender bathrooms or gender neutral bathrooms, North America was divided. There were those with no
In today’s society we as humans are aware and accepting of more identities than we ever have been before. Civil rights movements all over the world are advocating for everything from marriage equality, to laws protecting gender-queer people. However, it isn’t perfect. Just as there will always be racists and homophobes, there will always be people who say gender identity is a choice. Well, a study done earlier this year proves those people wrong.
Being transgender refers to having a gender identity that differs from one’s assigned gender. Therefore, one can be male biologically, but behavior and feelings are of the female gender. In a move to ensure equality of all persons as stipulated in the constitution, there have been discussions mainly targeted at the issue of bathrooms in schools. Transphobia has affected how transgender people relate with other people, and the bathrooms can be used to prevent it at an early age. Also, some other advantages have been identified with unisex bathrooms for instance reduction of bullying and drug abuse in male bathrooms. Transphobia can be reduced by the introduction of unisex bathrooms in both secondary
“Self pity becomes your oxygen. But you learned to breathe it without a gasp. So, nobody even notices you're hurting.” Every person who identifies as any of LGBTQPIA, (or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer, Questioning, Pansexual, Intersex, and Asexual) can connect directly to this quote by Paul Monette, who wrote it specifically for this group of people. Thousands of people daily are shamed for being a part of it. They are taught to despise themselves for who they are. “Gay Pride” is a common LGBT phrase for a reason: to teach people who are a part of the LGBTQPIA community that they don’t have to be ashamed of themselves. LGBT rights need a lot of work, but before we can make the commitment to do so, we need to make these groups accepted in all of America, not in only a few rare “safe places.”