Transgender Bathroom Cases

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,

The Bathroom Bill states that a person must use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex or, as the bill defines it, “the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person's birth certificate” (S.B.

Transgender rights and policies have always been an ongoing debate. In the article, “Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics,” Schilt and Westbrook (2015) argued that in order to push gender equality forward, we must consider the rights of transgender people by allowing them to have access to bathrooms that support their gender identity rather than their biological sex. In doing so, authors believed that it would make progress in alleviating discrimination against transgender people. However, in this conscious effort to fight for transgender rights and their access to sex-segregated spaces,

House Bill 2 (HB-2) in North Carolina, also known throughout the U.S. as the bathroom law, has made national news as the latest discriminatory law against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer (LGBTQ) community. Details of the law will be provided below, but the component of it that seems most controversial and most misunderstood is the mandate for men and women to use the bathroom of the gender into which they were born rather than that to which they have been reassigned. North Carolina governor Pat McCrory has championed HB-2 regardless of the significant detriment and revenue loss his position has cost the state.

The changing norms of the generation has brought upon commotion between various states because of the presidents judgement. The transgender bathroom policy allows transgender students to use the bathroom they identify as and not by the sex on their birth certificate (Fox News, 2016). The transgender bathroom policy has both successes and failure to ensure safety for transgender students resulting to its change being for not only trans-gender. Gender neutral bathrooms allows safety for those who are not only transgender, but also a part of the LGBTQ community, etc. but it causes a conflict with gender segregation. Adding additional bathrooms to suite other gender preferences costs more money and not everyone is going to accept what they walk into the bathroom and see. The gender neutral bathroom policy should be taken off of hold and be put into action because everything is constantly changing and those who do not identify as the sex they were assigned at birth are at risk for harm.

People tend to look passed the ones whom this debate affects. A survey was taken of over 2,000 transgender college students on the effects of the bathroom debate. This survey showed that the suicide attempt rate "increased 40% among those who said they had been denied access to a bathroom" (Scherer et al n.p.). People who are not considered normal by societal standards may have a hard time coping with the hate they receive. This hate can lead to extremes such as the attempt to commit suicide. The allowance or denial of access to a bathroom led to an increase in suicide attempt rates. Those not affected by the issue do not realize the emotional and physical hardship that transgender people go through. In Washington, D.C., a survey of 100 transgender people was taken. In this survey, "70% said they had been denied restroom access or harassed, and 58% said they has avoided going out in public because they feared being able to find a bathroom" (Scherer et al n.p.). The accommodations of both sides of the debate would allow everyone to feel safer in his or her own community. Family restrooms allow complete privacy and do not discrimination based on gender. Access to these types of facilities would never be denied. Allowing people access to the bathroom they choose opened an entire new side of the issue in

The hot topic of current events centers around the heated debate over whether Transgender kids should be able to choose what restroom they would like to use based solely on their gender identity. Breaking new ground and blazing new trails to create equality for all is the state of California. Democratic Governor, Jerry Brown, signed Assembly Bill No. 1266 (known as AB1266), which was an act to amend Section 221.5 of the Education Code, relating to pupil rights. The new law gives all students the right “to participate in sex-segregated programs, activities and facilities” based on their self-perceived orientation regardless of their birth gender. AB1266 and Section 221.5 of the Education Code provides equal rights for transgender individuals and promotes anti-discrimination. By allowing transgender boys and girls the right to use a restroom that corresponds to the student’s gender identity– regardless of the student’s sex assigned at birth– you essentially teach children acceptance from a young age. This creates a diverse culture which will help sway the profound perceptions that transgender individuals are oddities and will lend a hand in breaking the generational cycle of discrimination.

forcing a state law barring transgender people from using bathrooms in government buildings and public schools that correspond with their gender identity

The U.S. federal government is backing the issue of gender neutral bathrooms. As Lisa Rein, publisher of an article in The Washington Post, writes, “The federal government is strongly urging employers to give transgender employees access to bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, marking a new policy front in the fast-moving campaign for transgender equality” (Rein). Rein argues that bathrooms need to be made neutral, as it discriminates members of the LBGT community. Essentially, she argues throughout her article that emotional issues are the biggest reason to allow this. She states, “Among the many forms of discrimination advocates for transgender men and women say they face on the job,

The transgender community should have the right to use the restroom of the gender they identity with or have an alternate choice, some people many agree that is would be a dangerous liability, but some people may even agree to proving gender neutral restrooms. In dangerous of a person of the opposite sex using the restroom they prefer are very obvious, but is every person out to cause dangerous to other people in the restroom. Some people’s gender evolves differently, and might not fit rigid traditional notices of female and male. The effects of stereotype threat advanced because of the self-fulfilling prophecies that many different races, sexes or even religions fall into the effects of. “Gender refers to the cultural nature of the

To put it in the simplest form, there is a need for change. Transgender bathroom regulations blatantly oppress transgender individuals all around the nation in many ways. Since the national uprising over transgender bathroom policies Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) individuals have been impacted greatly. Heath complications, increase in suicides, and undeniable discrimination are a few of the negative impacts these policies have had on LGBTQ people. These individuals, although very significantly affected, are not the only targets impacted as a result of these policies. Loss in revenue, possible lawsuits, and travel bands are among the many consequences felt in the states where these draconian laws were passed.

A long side sports there is also another controversy with transgender rights. There are boy’s bathrooms and girl’s bathrooms, but girls are wanting to use boys and the other way around. Many stores such as Target, Starbucks, and many more have just gotten rid of assigned bathrooms all together. In most cases it is still not enough, many transgender rights activist want it want

If people can use the same bathroom as their female family members, then why can’t they use the same restroom as women and trans people? A lesbian woman was kicked out of a public women's bathroom. The reason was because she was dressed in men’s clothing. Trans People would also feel non discriminated when using the bathroom. A law passed in North Carolina said that people would have to use the bathroom of the gender they were born as. That means a trans women by law has to use the men’s bathroom and a trans man has to use the women's bathroom. A bathroom is a bathroom everyone should be able to use the same one with no problem. People are all the same, the only difference between us is our genitals.

Coming out as a transgender, identifying with a gender expression that differs from the assigned sex, has proven to be quite difficult through the ages. While the acceptance of transgender people has grown significantly higher throughout the years, people’s stance on them are still quite divided, and the uphill battle for transgender rights has proven this. Just giving transgenders the right to simply go to the bathroom they identify with has shown to be controversial according to the TIME cover Battle of the Bathroom. The TIME magazine makes sure to note the problem defiantly “far more than public facilities” (Scherer par. 9). Transgender rights are a problem that Jamison Green, president for World Professional Association for Transgender Health, thoroughly addresses in a report written by Alan Greenblatt for CQ Researcher. Jamison Green’s specific purpose in that report is to justify why transgender people deserve basic human rights like everybody else, as shown in society, through his use of facts, qualifiers, figurative language, counterarguments, and appeals to logic and values.

However, President Donald Trump is moving to reverse Obama-era guidelines on transgender students' right to use the bathroom of their choice in public schools to no rights at all (Kennedy). Certain schools give transgenders the right to choose the bathroom that they're comfortable in, while in other schools, it is necessary to be on a sex-reassignment plan and to have your sex legally renamed in order to use the bathroom you wish. Yet, there are problems which occur in this, “Schools can only require an assertion of gender transition. Requiring a diagnosis or treatment before a student is considered transgender may be unfair to lower-income students without access to such options, advocacy groups say” (Blad). One thing that many don't consider is the setting of income in which these students have. Another issue is that President Trump’s opinions on transgender students has lost federal protections that allowed them to use school bathrooms which match their gender. “In several cases, schools have opted to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity, but complaints from parents or others in the community have prompted schools to reverse their policies” (Kennedy). Even though some parents may be worried of danger involving creeps and predators, it is important to take into consideration the safety