Preview

The Dilemma of Transgender Bathroom Use

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1567 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Dilemma of Transgender Bathroom Use
The Dilemma of Transgender Bathroom Use
There are many individuals who do not know about the increasingly common identity known as transgender. Transgender is a term that describes a person who identifies as the sex opposite of what is stated on their birth certificate. Also, a numerous amount of people don 't recognize the growing population of individuals who are gender-nonconforming, which means they identify themselves as neither man nor woman. To a large sum of transgender people life is the equivalent of being trapped in a cage, a cage that is your own body. They struggle daily with being reminded of the identity society labels them as and not the identity they envision themselves to be. Even within the LGBT community, they are in the shadows waiting to be noticed and trying to cry for help, but they are always silenced by the more common LGBT family. The “T” in LGBT has always been there, but it has been pushed aside until now. In 2013, the feuded debates started to arise between the Republican politician consultant behind Prop.8 Frank Schubert, conservative coalition groups, evangelical voters; and the Transgender Law Center, Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, students, and the Williams Institute Manager of Transgender Research, Jody L. Herman. The question has arisen: should it be acceptable for transgender people to use public facilities based on their gender identity? The belief discussed by the Law center, Williams Institute, and the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition and many others within the LGBT community is that Transgender individuals need a safe place to go to the restroom without fear of verbal or physical violence (Davis). All they want is to use the restroom like everyone else, but conservatives have a different opinion. They think that if they allow this to happen, it will open up the door to the possibilities of an increase number of sex crimes due to people falsely representing themselves as transgender or even confusion to those who simply



Cited: Brown, Patricia Leigh. "A Quest for a Restroom That 's Neither Men 's Room Nor Woman 's Room." The New York Times 4 March 2005. News Article. Davis, Masen. "Transgender People Need Safe Restrooms." Huffpost Gay Voices 24 June 2013. News Article. Herman, Judy L. "Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender and its Impact on Transgender People 's Lives." Journal of Public Management & Social Policy (2013): 65-80. Peer Reviewed Journal. Marinucci, Carla. "Opponents Start Ballot Effort to Dump Transgender Law." San Francisco Gate 14 October 2013. News Article. Wetzstein, Cheryl. "California Transgender 'Bathroom Law ' One Step Closer to Ballot." The Washington Times 8 January 2014. News Article.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nicole Maine a fifth-grader transgender student together with the Maine Human Rights Commission sued the Oronos’s school district in 2009 after she was forced to use the staff restroom instead of the girl’s bathroom. According to the article, the Supreme Court of Maine ruled in favor of the student, due to the school violating the “Maine Humans Rights Act’s which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity “(The Mercury News, 2016). The article also mentions a very important detail regarding the ruling of this case and that is that prior to this case no state high court had ever established that a transgender person has the right to use the bathroom which they feel identifies their gender (The Mercury News, 2016).…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is in their nature for humans to yearn to protect others who are at risk of being in danger. The new policy, created by Target, which allows transgender people to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity, is a policy that a copious number of shoppers are strongly against; however the policy should not be seen as an issue as it is in the prevailing interest of all consumers that everyone who needs to use a restroom, deserves to be respected by being given privacy, that the government should not interfere with business affairs, and that every patron has the right to feel safe in the environment they are contributing their business to. Whether or not a person identifies themselves as a woman or man is not up for public discussion. The government has no right to impede on any commercial business in the capitalistic society of the United…

    • 1641 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Service delivery to the transgendered community is generally reported to be poor with hospital and healthcare workers demonstrating prejudicial attitudes once the birth assigned sex of the individual is discovered (OHRC, 2012). The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) frequently report on human rights violations against sexual minorities, including transgendered people. For instance, in June 1998 their newsletter reported the failure of ambulance personnel to assist a transvestite, Marcela, who had been stabbed and was left bleeding in the street for two hours until she died (OHRC, 2012). In social work practice, I find that it is essential that workers support transgendered people in their difficulties accessing shelters and other social service agencies and to coach them on how to maneuver the system so that they can meet their…

    • 2806 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within the article, “Is It Time to Desegregate the Sexes?” by, Judith Shulevitz, there are many different methods used to convey the onion of the author which can be summarized as, in modern America there is a dramatic need for reform in the rights of transgender citizens, particularly for students.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bornstein (1994) states that “But the need for a recognizable identity, and the need to belong to a group of people with a similar identity-these are driving forces in our culture, and nowhere is this more evident than in the areas of gender and sexuality” (3).Transgender people face discrimination because they are not being accepted in society because of their sexual orientation. Also, they are not classified as men or women. They are categorized as unknown .Borstein (1994) states that “In most cultures, were assigned a gender at birth .In our culture once you’ve been assigned a gender, that what you are” (22).The changes that should reduce and eliminate inequality is by accept transgender as a sex category. Therefore, unknown category should be elimininated.Trangendered should be treated equality by integrating them in workforce and providing them opportunities .Also, there should be no limitation based on their sexual…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Goffman Stigma

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In September 15, 2016 Reuters published a rather disturbing story, they found that 30% of transgender patients delayed or did not seek treatment due to the stigma they received as transgender people. While the United States is making progress toward fairer treatment, medical professionals lag behind making mistakes with names and creating a hostile environment for these people in clinics. We simply do not spend enough time training medical students about Transgender issues and this is problematic because transgender people tend to need more medical care than other groups. In summary the transgender stigma is almost nowhere else as disadvantaged as it is in the US medical system despite the fact that the medical system is one of the places…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Having done this research, I understand that gender neutral bathrooms are desired and should be legal everywhere in the United States and around the world. According to Heartland Trans Wellness Group, places with multiple person gender neutral bathrooms report no complaints, no harassment, and no violence (Yokoyama). The safety of a gender neutral restroom actually does not depend on the use of different genders in the same restroom, but instead depends on the consciousness of people regardless of gender. The idea of switching to or adding gender neutral public bathrooms might feel strange to an amount of people at first; but these changes will go a long way toward improving the lives, health and safety of transgender individuals. Transgender people have the rights to feel comfortable using public restrooms. As I end my exploratory essay, I want to say that we all are created equal. However, some of us have less equality of opportunity than others. It’s time to make a…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Transgender people often encounter similar discrimination 's that Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexual people encounter, yet it is often worse for the…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The bathroom is a private and generally safe place for people to go. However, imagine for a moment that you are a woman, but for some reason or another, you could not use the bathroom facilities of your designated gender. If you are a woman, you would find yourself in the midst of a bunch of strange men who would be glaring or leering at you as you walked into a stall to take care of your business. If you were a man, women may yell or cower at you as walked in. Needless to say, the situation would be uncomfortable for all involved. If you were a woman, the chance of you being attacked would also increase as well. Now imagine having to repeat this scenario on a daily basis for the rest of your life. That is what it is like for transgendered people. Many cisgendered women cry out that allowing "men" into their restrooms would lead to more violence and rape in a place that should be safe. Yet, one fundamental thing that they miss is that transwomen around the country are forced to put themselves in a potentially deadly situation every time they want to use the restrooms. Some may argue that it would allow for perverts to legally enter their…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Equality In Texas

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nowadays, in the modern world, gender has become an ambiguous concept where there is only a very thin line between how a person’s gender identity is classified as male or female. Although female is expected to be “feminine” and male is expected to be “masculine”, indeed, people gender identity does not always correspond with their sexual orientation. Recently, the transgender “bathroom bill” has become a controversial topic that raises many strong opinions and intensive arguments in Texas. Texas lawmakers have spent a lot of time debate how public restroom should be used appropriately. The bill addresses that people in public schools and government buildings are required to use restroom that corresponds with their biological gender, and thus,…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are approximately nine million people in America that represent the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community. That represents 3.5% of the American population, with that number expected to rise as new legislation makes it safer and more acceptable for the LGBT community to identify themselves (Williams Institute, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to discuss current legislation in the Federal government pertaining to LGBT rights, as well as cover the history of LGBT legislation. The American Government has come a long way with gay rights, but there is still…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    These rights include Title XI, which in Hinckley’s article it states “the Department of Justice defines as "a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity””. Owing to this violation there was a lawsuit from a sixteen year-old boy Gavin Grimm. Gavin was by a Virginia school board by banning him from using the boys’ restroom. Gavin did end up winning the case he states he “didn’t set out to make waves” what set out for was to “use the bathroom”(Hinckley). In an article written by Kristen Schilt titled “Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics” Kristen states “Opponents of transgender recognition often brought up the specter of sexual predators in sex-segregated spaces as an argument against the passage of transgender rights legislation.”(27) Some believe predators can use the excuse of transgender people to use the proper bathroom as an ok to enter. Again being transgender isn’t about he sex its about the gender. The law in North Carolina has also brought up boycotts because of the…

    • 2014 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Arguments Against DOMA

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The purpose of this paper is to provide a history and overview of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Next, I will analyze the impact that this policy has had on LGBTQ individuals. Finally, this paper will review support and opposition to the bill, which will conclude with personal views regarding this issue.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Should transgender people be allowed to use the restroom they choose based on how they identify, not their assigned birth gender? My answer to this question is not a yes or no. On the surface I do not care who is in the restroom I am also in. All stalls should be single person and private. This would satisfy each side of the argument. I am more concerned with other matters of safety such as hand washing. There's a higher danger from that than from using the restroom with a transgender individual. I wholeheartedly agree that all humans deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. If we ban choice than we take away the dignity and respect from the transgender community, but if we do not limit choices some might argue that we remove the…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    The Gay Rights Movement

    • 3319 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Bibliography: "About LGBT Human Rights." Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights. 27 Apr. 2009 .…

    • 3319 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays

Related Topics