A Study On The Transgender Community Essay

Most don’t explicitly look into the complexity of a transgender person’s life and all the questions or problems one might face: Do I use the men’s or the women’s bathroom? Is it appropriate to use this locker room? Those are only two of the many questions a transgender person might run into on a daily basis because of how others would see the situation, how the people who may have a sneaking suspicion that the woman they saw go into the ladies’ bathroom isn’t actually female by their definition, or how it could also seem strange to see that same person go into the mens’ bathroom. These all lead to dysphoria in any person’s situation in public places due to the fact that many choose to taunt or mock the person; however, with the help of Title IX these questions could start to vanish from the thoughts of many transgender students which Blad exemplifies with a quote in her article:

Recently, the issue of allowing transgender people access to public facilities according to the gender they identify with has caused much debate throughout the United States. The bathroom bill seeks to control access to public facilities of transgender individuals, based on the gender they were assigned at birth. In 2015, bills were passed stating entering a bathroom not assigned to a person at birth was a crime. Surrounded by misconception, the bill does “not legalize harassment, stalking, violence, or sexual assault.” Since the bill arose, there have not been a rise in violence or other incidents in the states protecting the transgender rights (Transgender Equality). The bill simply states if one is living as a woman, to use the women’s restroom,

More and more kids and teens are realizing that, they are not who they want to be. Meaning that, they want to, or have already changed their gender identity. This doesn’t seem like the problem, but these kids, teens, and even adults don't have the rights we have on a regular daily bases. According to Discovery Education, it says that, these kids and teens aren’t allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they choose to be. This is a big problem throughout the United States, especially in elementary, middle, and high schools. The government also took away the law stating that transgender people, are to use

Here in Canada, this issue has been brought forward in both communities and provincial level of concerns. To take a look closer to home, the city of Toronto had witnessed the complexity of this issue in the past years. A Toronto transgender teen who identifies as a male, was banned from using his high school boys restroom, and was forced to leave school grounds and search for a public bathroom at a gas station. Concerns were mentioned for the safety of Spencer, and also how he felt uncomfortable being forced to use the women’s restroom; however, several parents and students agreed with how the school was taking action to this problem. After a petition was enacted by fellow supportive students, Spencer was allowed to freely use the restrooms at his high school.

These kind of people want to and will try to make someone’s life as hard as possible simply because they see this subject differently. The simple, daily task of using the bathroom is a breeze for any typical person. Unfortunately, this task comes across as a intimidating adversary to a trans person simply because one can be conflicted with which restroom to use. For many trans people, entering a gender-specific bathroom can be a source of stress and anxiety, because using the restroom can mean very real health and safety concerns. Harassment of trans people in and around gender-specific bathrooms can range from denial of use to police intervention to verbal threats and physical assault.

When approaching public restrooms, most look at the gender on the door that associates with their own gender. However, some stare at those labels wondering which one they belong in. These types of people are often referred to as transgenders. Transgenders are people who identify themselves with the opposite gender of their biological sex. Therefore, for this category of people, entering a restroom is not so easy. They often wonder whether they should go into the bathroom of their biological sex or of their gender identity. The debate has spread throughout America today. Transgender bathrooms have been discussed in politics, education, and even criminal cases. Both sides of the debate offer valid evidence to support their claims. The only compensation

Gender equality is a pressing issue in the United States. The definition of gender, and the rights that accompany them, is constantly being updated and adjusted. The LBGT community is fighting for equality after being repressed for many years. Because of this sudden movement, social issues are sparking outrage and debate on whether a certain law or right for LBGT people is to be initiated. In many instances, these issues dominate the media, and cause for chaos on both sides of the spectrum. The bathroom controversy exemplifies this. The LBGT community argues that anyone should be able to use whichever bathroom that matches with their identified gender. Members of the LBGT community should not be able to use whatever bathroom they please.

After listening to “Beyond Bathrooms: The Battle Over Transgender Rights” a discussion on the “1A Radio Station” it is present that the debate over gender expression and which bathroom to use is still being fought. The radio show displays four guest (Grace Dolan-Sandino a transgender female and 11th grader at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Peyton Chapman the Principal of Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon, Matt Sharp Senior counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization, and Tanya Washington a Professor of law at Georgia State University.) who all share their opinions on the topic of whether transgender people should be able to use the bathroom that matches their gender expression or not, discuss possible solutions to the problem, and share their own personal experiences on the topic. After listening to the discussions in the program I will have to agree with the side that allows people who

In past generations, it has been clear to society that males and females use segregated bathrooms. It is also known that the rate of transgender people has been growing over the past years. Transgender people constantly face troubles when using a bathroom in public. Nevertheless, as society has become more aware of the transgender population and the issues that they face, many schools have had to decide how they will respond about the issue of school bathrooms when students identify themselves as transgender. A school should be able to provide separate facilities based on sex, but must allow transgender students access to the facility which matches their gender identity.

Masen Davis, another executive director of the Transgender Law Center and writer of “Transgender People Need Safe Restrooms” in the Huffpost Gay Voices, emphasizes that transgender people need access to safe restrooms. Davis stresses that their helplines receive 2,500 requests each year. The Transgender Law Center receives calls from people who have been attacked in public restrooms such as the mall or grocery store. The individuals calling these helplines are employees and students who are denied restroom access in accordance to their gender identity Davis informs us that Jody L. Herman, the Williams Institute Manager of Transgender Research, has recently released “Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender and Its Impact on transgender People’s Lives”. This scientific study conducted by Herman and other colleagues confirmed that 70 percent of transgender and individuals who do not identify with either gender have experienced problems in gender-specific restrooms in Washington, D.C. This study also shows that transgender people of color and individuals that have not medically transitioned received the most problems. Davis interprets the following information found in “Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public

As it was argued for when women had no public accommodations, to gain access to and utilize public restrooms allows its users the ability to access the public sphere and its varied social structures in meaningful ways (e.g. – as consumer, citizen, protestor, etc.). Additionally, this project advocates for the right for transgender individuals the right to not only have and access all-gender/gender-neutral bathrooms but to freely gain entrée to and use those gender-specific restrooms that align with their identities. This becomes a critical component in self-determination since occupants not only gender specific places through use but places reciprocally gender its occupants. It is commonly understood that within gender-specific locales, specific genders would not only be allowed but expected. This widely-accepted capacity offers a stabilizing component not only to cisgender users but those undergoing gender transition as well. (It should not be assumed that by taking this particular position that this project advocates for only two genders or for a inflexible standard of visible gender markers, but rather that the choice of either all-gender or gender-specific restrooms reflects the complexity of the conversation surrounding gender identity in the

The social issue that I chose which affects society today is transgender inequality. These issues are more recently gaining attention and becoming a prevalent topic of inequality within our country. A transgender person is someone whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. As more and more transgender people share their stories in the media, the social problems that arise from these stories are discrimination within their everyday lives. They suffer from scrutiny and judgment from their peers, and thus many hide their gender identity from family and society. This social injustice can be as simple as a glance or staring, or offensive comments and questions to violent hate crimes. Transgender people are prone to violence and harassment, and often not feeling safe in any aspect of society. They are fired from jobs, denied medical insurance, and being murdered left and right solely for being transgender. “A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55%), were harassed/bullied in school (51%), had low household income, or were the victim of physical assault (61%) or sexual assault (64%)” (National Center for Transgender Equality). The structure of this paper will consist of adding all the research that was gathered over the semester, news articles and peer

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, also known as LGBT population have experienced a great deal of oppression worldwide. These particular individuals undergo discrimination from society, whether for reasons of ignorance, fear or intolerance, this population faces challenges in multiple areas of social justice sexual. Although the LGBT culture has made some strides in the areas of state and federal legislation, there is still a wide range of criminalization that takes place within our culture. Understanding the LGBT community and the history of their oppression may be the first step in becoming culturally competent. For many years this culture was denied their basic constitutional rights that were afforded to their equal heterosexual peers. Basic rights such as, adoption and marriage were uncommon to this culture until the 20th century.

Society has defined and applied gender roles through; gender socialization. In this process, all agents of society shape the outcome and performance of each gender. Lately, there has been much commotion surrounding bathroom policy for Transgender people. To begin this analysis, I have asked myself one essential question; “For those opposed to Transgender people using the bathroom they identify with, what is their main concern that drives them to be against them doing so.” After identifying this leading question, my next step was to research why Transgender people would want to use the bathroom in accordance with their identifiable gender. Even though that may seem like an obvious question, people who are for, and against this topic have contradictory answers. Those who are for, allowing transgendered people to use the bathroom that they find are appropriate to their identity, express that we can not discriminate against people who are expressing who they are. Amongst these people are also the ones that believe that cisgendered people have no right to determine policies placed against transgendered people. I use this as the basis to my research since I am a cisgendered male, who believes in one of these views. For reference, “transgender,” is defined as, “nothing or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond to that person’s biological sex assigned at birth.”[]

Since we were little, girls and boys were always told to go to different gender bathrooms. The girl's door had a bright pink stick figure with a skirt, and the boys would have a blue stick figure on their doors. These pictures will point us to which bathroom to go to depending on our sex. As a former child, I always wondered why I couldn’t enter the boys' room. I would ask my mom this question, but she would just respond with “you aren’t a boy.” I always thought, “why does it matter, shouldn’t it be fine for both genders to use the same bathroom?” This tradition has been followed for years-until now. It’s the twenty-first century, and much has changed. Legislatures have introduced the bathroom bill which will make single stalled bathrooms gender neutral. Although some argue single stalled gender-neutral bathrooms will jeopardize the normality, I would pass this bill because it will welcome the LGBTQ+ community, benefit caregivers and help lower the debt.