Unless your WiFi recently went out or you don’t live within 1000 miles of another human, you’ve probably heard about Target’s recent announcement regarding their bathroom policy. In a statement released on April 19, the national chain said, “In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”
The “conversations currently underway” is a reference to the North Carolina House Bill 2 that was passed on March 23. This bill requires all people to use the restroom of the sex that is stated on their birth certificate. This is just one part of the bill that also makes it legal to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, the specific requirement of people to use bathrooms/changing rooms matching their birth certificates severely infringes on the livelihoods of transgender individuals.
People who identify as androgynous, somewhere in between the gender binary, intersex, or transgender have often faced the dilemma of which restroom to use. Cisgender individuals (those who identify with the sex that they were determined at birth) often take for granted public bathrooms. However, for many people this is just one of many daily challenges. These people have to choose whether to conform to societal expectations or pee in the place where they feel most comfortable. Target’s statement is simply expressing their inclusivity of all people no matter their gender identity.
The counterargument for Target’s decision, spearheaded by American Family Association, is that this new allowance for people to use the restroom of their identity, will permit anarchy in the form of anyone using whichever bathroom that they please. The AFA and others fear that specifically male rapists and perverts will have the perfect excuse to enter female restrooms and prey on women and young girls. The AFA claims that Target has put the needs of a small percentage of transgender and non binary individuals above the safety of mothers and children.
I would like to challenge this assumption with a question. When was the last time you saw someone exposed in a restroom in general? All public bathrooms I have ever been in have stalls with locks on them. The rest of the bathroom is no different than any other public space (although probably a lot dirtier). As a female, I unfortunately have often felt threatened by the presence of men in numerous locations. A friend and I were catcalled by a man outside of Grand Central Station on a wintery Thursday night around 8 o’clock. On another occasion, I was shoved by a group of boys as they ran past me and cackled loudly. That isn’t to say that all men are perpetrators of sexism and promote fear. This point is just to prove that bathrooms are no more a location for rape, harassment, or any other perverted and sexist action than pretty much any other place.
Target’s decision was not intended to invite sexual predators into bathrooms. The statement was meant to include people who may normally feel more threatened when forced to use a bathroom that they don’t feel comfortable in. In fact, the very reason that people fear allowing transgender men and women into the bathroom of their choice, is the reality that said transgender men and women face everyday. According to ABC News, 64 percent of transgender individuals will be be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. In comparison, only around 18 percent of women and 3 percent of men will experience the same type of sexual assault. While those percentages are also terrible, the implication that transgender people are the dangerous ones is highly inaccurate.
Nearly 1 million people have signed the petition to boycott Target on American Family Association’s website. That is an astounding number of people attempting to stand in the way of the basic human rights of the transgender community. According to the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” If we as a nation have already expanded on this statement to include not only “all men”, but women as well why can’t we extend these rights to people regardless of gender. The right to use whichever bathroom one feels comfortable would probably fall under the pursuit of Happiness as well as the right to a safe and comfortable Life.
I can almost guarantee that most of those million people have probably shared a restroom with a transgender person before without even knowing it. The LGBTQIA+ community has faced so much oppression over centuries and this basic right isn’t asking for much. They are just asking for a comfortable place to use the bathroom. And as for the argument that this is an opportunity for sexual predators, perhaps we should look at the broader issues of sexism and work on ending rape, harassment, sexual assault etc. overall instead of focusing on one small supposed problem.
The future for transgender rights is not entirely bleak. Artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Ringo Starr, and Pearl Jam have all cancelled performances in North Carolina to show solidarity with members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are being discriminated against by House Bill 2. Elsewhere in the country gender-neutral bathrooms are popping up all over in schools and public places. Harvard University just allowed the first transgender male to compete on a Division I team. Schuyler Bailar will swim with his fellow men this upcoming fall. It is with these triumphs that the LGBTQIA+ community is able to continue making the progress that it rightfully deserves. Until then, I’ll see you in the bathroom. But, probably not because you’ll be in your stall and I’ll be in mine.
