I have a very simple question: Why does it matter?
Why do any of the laws we are arguing about over social media matter? How will homosexuals getting the ability to adopt children cause yours harm? How will changing the person that we see on the face of the 20 dollar bill "wreck" America or change history for the worse? WHERE DID YOU THINK TRANSGENDER PEOPLE WERE PEEING IN THE FIRST PLACE? Most importantly, why is this last issue causing such outrage across the country right now?
A person who identifies as a female should not have to use the men's restroom because they were born with male genitals. Do you know why this is? Because then they will be asked if they know that they are in the wrong restroom or they could become the victim of a hate crime along with possibly being rape. Do you know why a female to male individual should not go into a women's restroom? Because they will be beat with a purse or any other object a women can find nearby, screamed at, and most likely be escorted out by the police for being a "possibly attacker."
Seriously, though, where did you think these people were going to the restroom before this became a headline? Transgender people are not some new "invention" of the 21st century. The Native Americans even have a special gathering for these people, who they call "two-spirits." That means that for centuries we have known about transgender people. We have eaten with them, talked to them, and yes gone to the bathroom with them for many, many years without a single issue. Yet now that this law has come into play, everyone is suddenly freaking out about women getting raped by perverts who use this law to their favor, or teen boys trying to sneak a peak at the girls in the locker room, or grown men putting on a dress and sneaking into a dressing room, bathroom, or locker room to inflict harm.
First off, what exactly was protecting women previously from getting raped in a bathroom? The door? If a rapist rapes a women and claims to identify as a female, they will still go to jail for raping the victim no matter how they identify themselves. Also, criminals don't follow the laws, hence why they are called criminals, so I don't see how this door is protecting us as it is. If a person wants to rape someone, I don't see the door stopping them because "it is against the law" for them to go into a women's restroom, because it is also against the law for them to rape people.
Secondly, if a teen boy identified as a female just to catch a glimpse of some girl's breasts, I'd be surprised if he lasted through second period because of all the abuse he would suffer through (which leads to a whole different conversation). If, by some miracle, he did, though, he wouldn't be able to go back to being just a male. He wouldn't be able just to throw on a dress and say, "I'm trying to this out, so let me into the locker room" and then the next day say, "Nope I didn't like it." There is so much more that goes with this transition, such as a great deal of paperwork to start the transition.
Finally, men are sneaking into women's bathroom already, hence why women are taught to look for cameras under toilet seats in public restrooms. There is a difference between being transgender and dressing in drag, ask any drag queen. So make sure the news reports that are coming out say that the man identified as female and was not dressed as a female before you say, "See look here! It is already happening." But, as stated above, if this was the true reason transgender individuals wanted to use the "other gender's" restroom, why are there not more reports about it? Why have I, or anyone I know, never complained about a transgender female looking at us in the bathroom in a weird predator type of way?
Oh, that's right, because I'm not in a club or at a frat house, where the only weird looks I get are from... oh that's right... cis males. In the bathroom, I'm not looking between their legs to make sure they are a female, and the only reason I am in there is to use the bathroom and leave, rather than question someone's reasoning for being in a bathroom! I go in, I wait in the line, I post on Yik Yak, I use the bathroom, I wash my hands and leave. There is at no point in this routine where I look around and question if there is a transgender person around me because it is none of my business, and I don't need to disrupt them while they are waiting for a stall. No one needs an ID to pee.
Why is it that the first argument everyone brings up about bathrooms being biological rather than about who someone identifies as always come down to men don't trust men. Their main response is basically that if they (current male legislators) were given a chance they would become sexual predators. I even use this stereotype within my own piece. What does that say about our society? What does that say about our opinion of men in this country? Why is no one talking about that?
I now have a very complex question: Why doesn't this matter?
It shouldn't matter where trans people go to the bathroom, because it didn't matter before hand. Our country needs to work on stuff that will actually hurt us: like the economy crashing again, people dying because they can't afford to go to a doctor, giving people a living wage rather than just minimum wage, and putting an end to rape culture and discrimination. These things matter. Who is in the stall next to me does not.
All the while we are trying to "protect" our children from such criminals, but who will protect children like Jazz? Would you like her walking into a men's room?
This is the face of a transgender teenager. She is 14 years old, She is the exact age of the teen girls lawmakers are trying to protect. So why will they throw her aside? Why does she not deserve the same protection?
Why doesn't this matter?
