It's becoming pretty cliched to discuss how crazy 2016 has been, not only in America but around the world. Dissidents continue to speak out against tyrants, people risk their lives for life and liberty, and humans from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds are still struggling to co-exist with each other. While all this is happening abroad, we in America are dealing with our own set of problems. The two presumptive major-party candidates for President have the highest unfavorable ratings since polling on the matter began, and there is a possibility they both may be on trial come Election Day. We still have troops on foreign soil risking life and limb to secure our freedoms, but our centuries-old argument over what those freedoms are continues. The latest issue to come up is something near and dear to everyone's hearts (and their bladders): the right to pee.
I'll give it to my strict constitutionalists that there is no explicit right to relieve yourself, but I'm pretty sure preventing someone to do that is cruel and unusual punishment. The 20th century saw an argument over bathrooms that is quite similar to the one which we are having today. Back then, however, it was the "separate but equal" facilities for black and white Americans, beginning with the Plessy v. Ferguson SCOTUS decision, that was the issue. Of course, Plessy was unanimously overturned by a later court, because making people use separate facilities (i.e. restrooms and schools) based on their race was as illogical in the eyes of the law as separating them by hair color, height, or even political leanings.
As Americans, and more importantly as humans, we face a different, slightly more complicated situation. The solution, however, remains the same. I'm talking about people who identify as transgender and gender non-conforming and their struggle to use the restroom that aligns with their identity. To those who believe that your genitalia determines your gender, please educate yourself on the difference between sex and gender. There has been a lot of hatred and vitriol on both sides of the issue; just look at the comments on Megyn Kelly's interview with actress/activist Laverne Cox below.
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Obviously, everyone thinks they are a psychologist. I would remind them, and the people who agree with them, that there are people on the other end of those attacks. Fellow Americans, next-door neighbors, classmates, co-workers, and even soldiers who protect your right to say things like that. However, people who don't take the time to read any academic work on the issue probably don't take the time to consider the impact their words have on others as they sit behind a computer screen.
Now, I will admit that there has been a communication failure between those in the transgender community, their allies, and the majority of Americans. Sex, sexuality, and gender education in this country is sometimes dismal, even downright inaccurate in many cases.
Change, and really anything that is different, is uncomfortable for a lot of people. OK, it is awkward for pretty much everyone. However, when a new idea challenges your own set of beliefs or values, the least you can do as a citizen of a nation that prides itself on democratic debate is to hear the other side out. In other words, when an 8-year old in Kennesaw, Georgia tries to explain something to you that you don't understand, maybe you could at least listen to them.
A lot of very smart people consider the Obama administrations bathroom/locker room mandate to be federal overreach, and they may be right. But the legal suit filed by eleven states, including Texas and Georgia, could be the best opportunity for a real and productive conversation on the issue of what it means to be transgender. For those who didn't know, transgender was declassified as a mental illness back in 2012.
The world has bigger problems than bathroom usage and our energy should be focused on those, but we cannot ignore the humanity of our citizens here at home.
America, we can do better. So we must do better.
