Bathroom Break
Transgenders face a number of issues, one I already discussed being the disagreement on whether being transgender is a mental illness or an identity. Aside from that, when they complete their transition you'd think they would be content and finally happy. But that isn't the case at all. They are still challenged with discrimination, for example, the use of bathrooms.
Bathrooms have always been an area of debate in America's history for people of color, people with disabilities and for now people that don't identify with their biological sex. Ashton Whitaker, from Kenosha, Wisconsin just recently settled a lawsuit with the Wisconsin School District in which he was paid $800,000 for his degrading experiences within the high school. He was told by administrators and teachers at his school that he wasn't allowed to use the boy's bathroom, even though that was the gender that he identified with. They also used female pronouns despite Whitaker's request to be identified with male pronouns.
This debate is very tricky because on a federal level, declared by Title IX, education programs that receive federal funding have to protect people from any discrimination involving sex. The problem is that some lawmakers and educators don't agree that this should cover individuals that don't identify with their sex, President Donald Trump is one of them.
The Trump administration recently declared, according to CNN, (previously enforced by the Obama administration) that in public places, transgenders are not protected or permitted to use bathrooms that they identify with. Even though Trump changed the federal law, public school districts are allowed to declare their own terms regarding trans students and bathrooms. This change in policy satisfies the beliefs of conservatives and people that hold traditional values. Those same people argue that they are not comfortable because they believe that men will dress as transgender women in order to sexually assault women in bathrooms. They also argue that they wouldn't be comfortable with "the opposite sex" using the same facilities as them. All these statements are very degrading for the LGBT community.
Last year the LGBT community thought they gained a win when the Obama Administration extended Title IX to protect transgender individuals too. But that was forcefully taken away from them recently. This sparked numerous protests across the country and especially in D.C. The LGBT community is outraged because they explain how this change in policy is basically like putting targets on transgender student's backs. This gives them no protection in school, a place where they should be able to feel safe while getting an education.
This issue hits near home for me, literally. The school district next to mine in Palatine, IL, was sued by a transgender girl; however this problem involved the locker rooms instead of the bathrooms. Nova Maday was originally not allowed to use the girl's locker room at all. Teachers would send her up to the nurses office to change or open a whole separate locker room for her which significantly set her apart from the rest of her peers. Eventually, she was allowed to use the girl's locker room only if she changed in a specific area away from the rest of the students. Nova is actually the second student in Palatine'a history to sue for transgender rights. So finally the district now accommodates all transgender students with their requested locker room and a support plan.
As you can see the problem extends farther than just bathrooms, it involves locker rooms, jury duty and sports teams, basically anything that you can think of that involves differing of genders. This puts a significant strain on transgenders mentally and emotionally because it is already hard enough for them to announce their transition and/or identity, just to be denied what they believe in because it doesn't match with the social norm.
Unfortunately some situations entail more than mental difficulty. A transgender women, Ella, was handcuffed at a casino in Indio after she tried to used the women's bathroom. She said that four men entered the bathroom after she had and ordered her to show them her ID. She disagreed, the men put her in handcuffs and searched her purse for her ID. Her drivers license says female on it so she insisted she didn't do anything wrong and to let her go. The men kept her until the sheriff's department arrived. The casino explained that the problem came from undereducated employees and that they need to work on it.
It is disappointing how aggressive people in our country can be towards individuals that differ from the norm despite us being so 'diversified.'
Bathrooms have always been an area of debate in America's history for people of color, people with disabilities and for now people that don't identify with their biological sex. Ashton Whitaker, from Kenosha, Wisconsin just recently settled a lawsuit with the Wisconsin School District in which he was paid $800,000 for his degrading experiences within the high school. He was told by administrators and teachers at his school that he wasn't allowed to use the boy's bathroom, even though that was the gender that he identified with. They also used female pronouns despite Whitaker's request to be identified with male pronouns.
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| From PinkNews |
This debate is very tricky because on a federal level, declared by Title IX, education programs that receive federal funding have to protect people from any discrimination involving sex. The problem is that some lawmakers and educators don't agree that this should cover individuals that don't identify with their sex, President Donald Trump is one of them.
The Trump administration recently declared, according to CNN, (previously enforced by the Obama administration) that in public places, transgenders are not protected or permitted to use bathrooms that they identify with. Even though Trump changed the federal law, public school districts are allowed to declare their own terms regarding trans students and bathrooms. This change in policy satisfies the beliefs of conservatives and people that hold traditional values. Those same people argue that they are not comfortable because they believe that men will dress as transgender women in order to sexually assault women in bathrooms. They also argue that they wouldn't be comfortable with "the opposite sex" using the same facilities as them. All these statements are very degrading for the LGBT community.
 |
| From the Daily Beast |
Last year the LGBT community thought they gained a win when the Obama Administration extended Title IX to protect transgender individuals too. But that was forcefully taken away from them recently. This sparked numerous protests across the country and especially in D.C. The LGBT community is outraged because they explain how this change in policy is basically like putting targets on transgender student's backs. This gives them no protection in school, a place where they should be able to feel safe while getting an education.
 |
| From Business Insider |
This issue hits near home for me, literally. The school district next to mine in Palatine, IL, was sued by a transgender girl; however this problem involved the locker rooms instead of the bathrooms. Nova Maday was originally not allowed to use the girl's locker room at all. Teachers would send her up to the nurses office to change or open a whole separate locker room for her which significantly set her apart from the rest of her peers. Eventually, she was allowed to use the girl's locker room only if she changed in a specific area away from the rest of the students. Nova is actually the second student in Palatine'a history to sue for transgender rights. So finally the district now accommodates all transgender students with their requested locker room and a support plan.
 |
| From Youtube |
As you can see the problem extends farther than just bathrooms, it involves locker rooms, jury duty and sports teams, basically anything that you can think of that involves differing of genders. This puts a significant strain on transgenders mentally and emotionally because it is already hard enough for them to announce their transition and/or identity, just to be denied what they believe in because it doesn't match with the social norm.
Unfortunately some situations entail more than mental difficulty. A transgender women, Ella, was handcuffed at a casino in Indio after she tried to used the women's bathroom. She said that four men entered the bathroom after she had and ordered her to show them her ID. She disagreed, the men put her in handcuffs and searched her purse for her ID. Her drivers license says female on it so she insisted she didn't do anything wrong and to let her go. The men kept her until the sheriff's department arrived. The casino explained that the problem came from undereducated employees and that they need to work on it.
It is disappointing how aggressive people in our country can be towards individuals that differ from the norm despite us being so 'diversified.'
I think this was an articulate timeline and explanation of events. It’s so sad to know that some people still struggle so much for basic rights :( but nice to know that there are people who fight these injustices everyday.
ReplyDeleteMcKenzie, I agree that all people in our country deserve their basic human rights, and no matter who they see themselves as, they still deserve to be treated like human beings. I think the main discussion here lies in the value of safety. What's safe for transgender individuals? What's safe for the people who are interacting with them? On on hand, transgender people deserve to be treated fairly in locker rooms and bathrooms, but on the other hand, this case opens up the opportunity for criminals to be malicious and lie to meet their own agenda. My question is, how to we balance equality and safety?
ReplyDeleteThis blog post is well written and organized. I think that transgender people should definitely have the right to use the bathroom they identify as. The people who don't want to allow this because they believe men will dress up as women and sexually assault women have the complete wrong mindset and believe that punishing the transgender people is the correct solution. It makes me sick to think we are punishing transgender people for the potential indecency of some men.
ReplyDeleteThis is a topic with plenty of fine details and exceptions, making it that much more challenging to resolve or debate. Because of so many different situations that involve the differing of genders, I feel like our government and our society is just unaware of how to solve the problem for each individual case. Like you stated, the transition from one gender to another takes a huge toll on the individual choosing to make the change. The problem that schools, officials, and leaders face then involves formulating a general guideline that suits every stage of transgender individuals as well as maintaining a protected environment for others throughout the process. I am glad you brought some of these specific cases into your argument. It is always good to read real stories to pull out ethos instead of simply seeing statistics.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good take on a very complicated issue. I personally agree with you in that people should be allowed to use the bathroom that they want to. The claims that transphobic politicians use to try and discourage opinions such as the one you expressed are blatantly untrue, and you have done an excellent job pointing out how damaging these claims are.
ReplyDelete