Transgender Bathroom Rights are going to the Supreme Court
On March 28, 2017 the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the first transgender bathroom rights case to reach this level.
The case is between Gavin Grimm, a female to male transgender person, and Gloucester High School in Virginia over him being banned by the school board from using the boys' restroom.
At first, the school allowed him to use the bathroom without any issue, until the word got out "causing some parents in the area to complain about the school’s inclusive practice." In 2014, a school board meeting was held after parents complained about him using the boys' room. Grimm spoke extremenly eloquently after hearing arguments against him using the restroom he identifies with.
All told, 27 people made comments during that board meeting – many of which were hostile toward Grimm. Some students expressed similar sentiments, with a few insisting that Grimm is a girl and invoking religious rationales for that belief.
“I don’t think it’s right,” John Groen, a sophomore, said. “I just believe if you’re a man, you’re a man, and if you’re a woman, you’re a woman … That’s how God made you, and that’s how He sees fit for you to be.”
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“The alternative facility was a unisex bathroom. I’m not unisex. I’m a boy. And there’s no need for that kind of ostracization,” Grimm told National Public Radio.
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The arguments against transgender people being able to use the restroom they identify with say that:
- that cisgender people are being exposed to dis-similar genitals
- it's protection for women and children
- female-to-male transpeople are still girls and male-to-female transpeople are still boys
Looking a closer of these points:
First off, regardless of female-to-male or male-to-female, the person will be using a stall. There is no exposure to genitalia due to this with pretty much every stall having a door.
Commonly transpeople are demonized as being sick, sexual deviants and predators. Statistics do not back up this claim, with the exact opposite being the case that ZERO transpeople have attacked others in the bathroom Beyond this anti-LGBT groups instill fears that trans-rights laws would open the door to actual predators exploiting them to gain access to the bathroom.
Conservatives have long peddled the myth that sexual predators will exploit nondiscrimination laws to sneak into women's restrooms by pretending to be transgender. The “bathroom predator” myth has been repeatedly debunked -- by experts and government officials in 16 states and the District of Columbia, and school administrators in 23 school districts and four universities. Despite overwhelming evidence, many media outlets continue to uncritically repeat the debunked myth peddled by anti-LGBT groups.
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- Lastly the vast majority of the scientific community is leaning towards there being a biological basis to being transgender. Research by Antonio Guillamon that compares MRI scans of transgender and cisgender people finding similarities between trans-men and cis-men and trans-woman with cis-women. Other research by Sean Deoni is leading to analysis of monitoring white matter (myelin) being able to identify gender differences in the brain. Both of these have been published in peer-reviewed publications of Journal of Psychiatric Research and Journal of Neuroscience respectively. Often opponents refer to the work of Paul R. McHugh "ever published an actual research article on gender or sexuality in a scientific journal.” Mchugh frequently cites a 2011 Swedish Study as a basis for his arguments that even the researcher that performed the study, Cecilia Dhejne, who herself wrote in her reserach paper that:
It is therefore important to note that the current study is only informative with respect to transsexuals persons health after sex reassignment; no inferences can be drawn as to the effectiveness of sex reassignment as a treatment for transsexualism. In other words, the results should not be interpreted such as sex reassignment per se increases morbidity and mortality.
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Just scratching the surface of these arguments, they quickly fall apart, solely leaving that they are uncomfortable with transpeople (commonly from due their religion.) As Grimm says, these religious based views or feeling are not relevant in such public school board or court decisions due to the separation of church and state. Instead it is the FACTS that must be looked at.
While the current focus of the Gavin Grimm case before the Supreme Court is over the right to use the bathroom, the same arguments are being applied against pushes to prevent discrimination of transgender people in the workplace, housing and access to healthcare.
While the transcommunity may not achieve "wins" in this case or other areas in the short-term, I truly believe time is on our side!
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Gavin Grimm Quote
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I do not think that transgenders should be permitted to use bathrooms simply because they identify with the gender on the door.
Perhaps when speaking of post-op transsexuals it is another matter. But, there is a reason that there is a different bathroom for men/boys and women/girls.
In today's society, the overwhelming majority of people do not feel comfortable going to the toilet with members of the opposite sex, or those who have different sexual organs to their own. There are plenty out there who have enough of a problem doing so even with people of the same sex.
Perhaps it is not ideal that so many people feel uncomfortable with this, but the fact remains that they do. So, is it fair that a transgender should be permitted to use a bathroom with others who possess different genitals, knowing that it may potentially make a lot of people feel comfortable, all so that they might avoid any discomfort of their own by using the same bathroom as people who do share the same sexual organs?
A willingness to cause discomfort for many, so that one can escape the feeling of discomfort themself, is selfish whichever way you look at it.
Now I do not want to be misinterpreted here. I do not have anything against transgenders. If you are not hurting anyone, then in my opinion, you can live how you want to live and should be accepted for who you are.
But, allowing someone to use a bathroom that is not meant for their physical sex, knowing that it may cause discomfort for many people, is not tolerance. It's lunacy.
This is my opinion on the matter at least. I think it's a very complicated issue, and I feel that whatever resolution is met, there are going to be people disappointed regardless.
This could all be avoided if people just felt comfortable in a bathroom with anyone else, regardless of gender.. But, we live in a world where insecurity is promoted, so I don't see that happening any time soon.
While I can understand where you're coming from, I do disagree.
To start, when people, cis or trans, use the restroom, they are not publically showing their genitals. In either case of a transperson (male to female or female to male) they are using a stall, which I can not remember the last time I even saw one that wasn't private with a door. Anybody that is 'peeking' into another stall to see someone else's genitals is breaking already existing privacy laws, which really are unrelated to somebody being transgender or not and is not a part of this case to be decided.
Furthermore, if a transman were to use the women's restroom or a transwoman were to use a men's restroom (which you stated as your preference) it would cause just as much (if not more) discomfort. For example this transperson:
would be going into the women's room or this transwoman:
going into the men's room to be any more useful.
Having people like pictured above walk in to the bathroom that matches their birth certificate or current genitalia really doesn't help (probably hurting further) with anyone's comfort factor. Only about 33% of transpeople have sexual reassignment surgery (SRS), with many without it being completely passable to the general public. I suspect the bigger issue people have is instead when a transperson isn't passable, which having SRS or not is irrelevant.
So we've already established that genitalia aren't being put on public display and what remains is the unsubstantiated fear of what transpeople might do outside of simply using the restroom. This fear is quite similar to the arguments during african-american civil rights discussions that suggested the need for "protection of white women from black male rapists.
Quoting historian Lisa Lindquist-Dorr:
In the end, while I can truly understand where the 'uncomfortable' feelings stem from, with it being outside of their expected norm, it's not a good enough reason to deny equal rights, which goes beyond the bathroom issue into areas such as employment and housing. Much like african-americans that were demonized with mythical fears of 'white women being raped by black men,' the trans community is portrayed as 'flaunting their genitalia in public' or being sexual predators, which just isn't true.
A portion of the population being uncomfortable (and there are just as many people who are comfortable) just isn't a good enough argument in my mind to deny transgender people access to use the bathroom they identify with, while breaking no laws on privacy, assault, etc. Much like acceptance has grown for the LGB community as straight people found members that were friends or family, we will see the same pattern with the trans community as they start to come out. Besides, just about everybody has already used a bathroom with a transgender person and never known it.
I'm happy to agree to disagree with you, with this being my perception of the issue. Thank you for being civil in providing your opinion on it.
I was not implying that it is a fear of a transgender flashing their genitals, or even accidentally catching sight of opposing sexual organs that causes the discomfort for most.
I would say that is is the fear of having their own genitals exposed which is the cause of unsettlement for most, which is a likely scenario when speaking of a male bathroom at least.
Your images make a valid point though. They are very convincing. I would say the transgender in the second image you shared is actually quite attractive.
I can imagine the awkwardness that could emerge with those examples using bathrooms specified for their natural sex.
I can understand where you're coming from regarding the men's room, but I really see it being irrelevant since it's the same reaction to others in there being cis or transmen. Also, it's rather rare for a transman to be using the urinal anyway, since an even smaller percentage of them (compared to transwomen) choose to have 'bottom surgery.' Most of the time they would be using the stalls anyway.
I really see the 'uncomfortable' feelings in these situations having anything to do with transgender people.
I truly believe that as people meet and get to know transpeople, the concerns will lessen. But there is somewhat a catch-22 right now where many transpeople feel they need to be 'stealth' (passable and not let any others know) for their own comfort or safety with social (or worse) backlash being possible. I'm not faulting anyone for the feelings of being uncomfortable of something new/unknown, but to me that needs to be combated with awareness and learning.
It's unjust to use fear mongering to try to oppress a small minority.
Especially considering that this group of people has done no harm at all, and according to many sources, has actually helped humanity in many ways.
I totally agree! Either make valid, fact based points or stop...trying to sway purely on fear (with this as well as other issues) is a huge problem in my opinion.
Transpeople are just the next group on the list for people to discriminate against...we've seen it all before with irish, italians, native americans, african americans, women...the list goes on. It's always the same empty rhetoric.
Someday the trend will be broken...but that'll be a while. Lol
Thank you!
nobody is proud of what they do in the bathroom. it's not like they want the room to show off. they just have to take a shit. get a grip, people.
So true!
This is the only exception I could think of:
Lol, sorry...couldn't help myself there.