This article may be triggering to some. Beware before reading.
Dear One Million Moms, American Family Association, and every other Organization Boycotting Target:
You need a reality check! People are entering the bathrooms that align with their gender. A gender is not what your body’s genitalia is; it is what your mind and heart say your gender is. Before these bills, requiring people to enter the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate, which I will get into later, transgender people entered the bathroom matching their gender.
A trans person is more likely to be attacked, rather than a cisgender person.
According to the American Psychological Association, “Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.”
Don’t women enter the men’s restroom all the time to avoid lines? What happens if a guy is out with his daughter and she needs to go to the bathroom?
I asked my friends Evee and Amy, who are both moms, to comment on this.
This quote is from my friend Evee:
"I've been a parent to a little boy for seven years, and the fear for him going into the men's room by himself keeps me from allowing him to. That fear has never been perpetuated by a trans person. I have never felt that if my child was going to be assaulted it would be by anyone other than a cis male because statistically it is just more likely. My husband takes my 5-year-old into the men's room with him, and we have never thought that she would be traumatized by the possibility of glimpsing a man's genitals while they use the urinal. The obsession with bathrooms and genitalia that certain groups seem to have is very disheartening. In my opinion, if a person is going to assault a woman or child in the bathroom, they aren't going to be stopped by a sign on a door. Assaults happen all the time and are more likely to be on trans people than any other group. As a mother I want my children to know that the issue is not who has what parts in what bathroom. It is about inclusion and equal treatment. A trans woman is a woman. A trans man is a man. And if a person wants to use the bathroom, I care more whether they wash their hands than whether they have the same or different genitalia as my child."
This quote is from my friend Amy:
"On April 20th, i made the mistake of posting of an article that stated Target was the first major retailer to allow transgender people to use the bathroom which they identify with. Boy, did I learn just how prejudiced people can be when it comes to what they think, is their civil rights being violated. 'I'm feeling feminine, I think I'll use the women's room today,' was one comment I received. Another comment, 'This disgusts me. Next we'll be having pedophile men dressing as women to go into the girls' room. I'm good with my 12-year-old daughter in a stall next to that shit.' I felt for a bit, like I was alone in this post. I'm a straight woman, and I felt violated, insulted, helpless. I couldn't imagine how my friends that are transgender or are in the process of doing so must feel. Finally, friends started to comment. My friends that would never, ever judge anyone by the genitalia that may or may not be down their pants. You see, my type of friends, we don't care what you have in your pants, or what bathroom you use. You are a god damn human being, and deserve every bit as much that right as everyone else on this planet. People seem to forget, we have already had transgender people using our bathrooms; you would just never under their stall checking out their package before. What baffles my mind, is the parents who say...What about my daughter? What about her? Since when would you let your 6-year-old go to the bathroom by themselves anyway? A friend further commented on the post saying he was a friendly transgender person and that he was actually more afraid of being assaulted or beaten to death than what any cisgender person is of afraid of, and he is not wrong unfortunately. Approximately, there are 700,000 individuals who identify as transgender, Half of that number of transgender people, have attempted suicide. Transgender murders are also beginning to become a harsh reality to some. We have to band together and stop this hate. We are all cut from the same cloth, no matter how we identify. Let's all pee together in peace!"
Doesn't Target have family bathrooms, which anyone can use? Aren't most Targets in malls with other stores?
The issue with using a person's gender on their birth certificate is two things. 1: Who carries a birth certificate with them everywhere they go? 2: You can legally change your gender on your birth certificate, after going through a long and difficult process.
