Recently there have been some controversies surrounding the new bathroom policies. Some companies and states have instituted laws saying that transgender people are allowed to use whatever bathroom of the gender they identify with. This is a huge step for the LGBT community because more people are getting rights. The United States is growing closer to really treating people as equals.
However, there are some setbacks. Some people are not on board with these new policies. According to forbes.com, Target now allows its transgender customers to use the bathroom and fitting room the person identifies with. This has led some outraged customers to try to boycott Target.
According to cnn.com, the state of Alabama declared that people must use the bathroom matching the sex states on his or her birth certificate. If someone were to use the opposite bathroom, regardless of gender being different from sex, he or she could face up to six months in jail.
The issue here is there are Target stores in Alabama, so the company policy conflicts with the state law. State law is supposed to overpower the company policy, so be on the lookout for updates on what happens to the Target stores
The biggest controversy surround the new bathroom law is the possibility for people to abuse it. There are concerns that a man could walk into the women's bathroom and hurt a little girl. This man is allowed to walk into the women's room without anyone being able to stop him. What people need to think about is those men that are potentially dangerous are already in the men's bathroom with their little boys. Sex offenders don't discriminate. They hurt vulnerable people. If someone is that worried that their child is potentially at risk or in danger, said parent should go in the bathroom with them.
For the record, it is completely ignorant to assume transgender people are sex offenders.
Another issue brought up is people might feel "uncomfortable" having a transgender person in their bathroom. What these people aren't taking into consideration is how uncomfortable transgender people feel in the bathroom assigned to their sex, but doesn't align with their gender. A woman would probably feel out of place in the men's room, the same way that a male-to-female transgender person feels in the men's room.
The United States is continuing to progress with LGBT rights since gay marriage was legalized June 2015. Transgenders are slowly being allowed to use the bathrooms they want and deserve to use. Keep your eyes posted to see if Target will be able to keep its policies instituted in the state of Alabama. It's possible that the country could intstitute a federal law and declare all places have gender neutral bathrooms.
