On Wednesday, President Donald Trump rescinded protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity. Civil rights officials and the Education Department rejected the Obama administration's position that nondiscrimination laws allow students to use the bathrooms of their choice.
What's possibly more shocking than this is the fact that when it came to the issue, it was Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos vs. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Betsy DeVos was actually against rescinding these protections. because she was uncomfortable with the harm that could come to transgender students.
In my opinion, that's how you know that what's going on right now is especially messed up: for someone like Betsy DeVos to actually be siding with the liberal point of view.
Actually, I take that back. It's not the "liberal" point of view. It's the "decent human being" point of view.
I know there's the argument out there that we shouldn't be just letting people "pick whatever bathroom they want," but is it really like that? If we let transgender people go into the bathroom they identify with, does that mean I'm going to go into the boys' bathroom? No. Because I don't identify as a boy. It's the same exact logic. If someone doesn't identify as a boy, they're not going to use that bathroom.
There's also the argument that this could allow potential sexual predators to go into bathrooms and harm children. Not to be harsh, but what makes anyone think that sexual predators are going to follow the gender assignments of a bathroom now anyway? Allowing trans people to go into the bathroom of their choice has no effect on this issue and it's disgusting to even try and use that as a reason to deny them of their rights.
Going to the bathroom does not have to be that big of a deal. You go in, you pee, you leave. If I see someone in the ladies' room, I'm not going to think twice of them. You can easily tell the difference between someone who genuinely identifies as a woman and a boy who is messing around and thinks it's funny to go inside the girls' bathroom.
Laverne Cox makes a great point in an interview on Hardball where she says that it's not really about bathrooms; it's about whether or not the country believes trans people have a right to exist in a public space. Bathrooms are everywhere and they are essential, and if we are denying trans people the ability to go to the bathroom they identify with, we are denying them the ability to go to work, to school, etc. Watch the interview here.
All I really can say is that this past month has truly shown me how childish, backwards, and despicable the people in charge of our government can be, and that as time goes on I, like many others, will be hoping and fighting for change.
