I’m Shea Carmen Swan, a lesbian, New Yorker, and a journalism student minoring in gender studies at The New School. Trans On The Rise was originally for my advanced journalism class. All semester long we’ve been working on building packages; my package was focused in LGBTQ current events and news. Lately there’s been tons of focus on gender neutral bathrooms, and I thought it was important to take a look at the politics behind GN bathrooms and the trans* movement.
Bathroom Laws
Phoenix’s City Council recently approved an amendment to their anti-discrimination law on Tuesday, February 26th. The anti-discrimination law now includes protection for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people against all forms of harassment. The law extends over city contracts, housing, employment, and in public spaces such as restaurants according to San Diego Gay and Lesbian News’ article, “Phoenix approves LGBT-inclusive anti-discrimination law.”
This triumph in the fight for LGBTQ equality prompted Rep. John Kavanagh to motion for another amendment to the law. Kavanagh ultimately protected all businesses from legal recourse if they choose to ban transgender people from public locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms.
The original bill Kavanagh proposed made it illegal for a transgender person to enter a bathroom, public shower, or locker room that does not correspond with the gender they were assigned at birth. Which means the defendant could be slapped with a $2,500 fine, they will be charged with a class 1 misdemeanor, and may spend up to six months jail.
Kavanagh’s reasoning for this amendment is to protect small children from being exposed to “naked men in women’s locker rooms and showers,” according to Huff Post Politics’ article, “Arizona Transgender Bathroom Bill OK’d By State House Panel”. His evidence of children at risk from pedophiles pretending to be transgender women, what Kavanagh refers to as the “transgender ruse”, is nonexistent.
“Anybody who is concerned about a black person in a restaurant is sick, but a parent who is concerned about a young child in a locker room in this situation is a good parent in my opinion. What we have here essentially is a balancing of rights. The right not to be exposed,” Kavanagh said. “I think there’s psychological harm to a young girl exposed to the genitalia of the opposite sex. I think there’s some trauma there for some young girls. I don’t think it’s appropriate in that environment.”
This law is all the more reason why gender-neutral bathrooms are so vital to the community. Transgender people cope with so much anxiety about using public facilities and this law is perpetuating that fear with legal consequences. The new bill’s intended use is to protect business owners from legal recourse is they choose to ban Trans* folk from using their facilities.
Charlie Joughin, a spokes person for the Human Rights Campaign, in regards to the amendment said, “SB1045 and Rep. Kavanaugh’s amendment served no other purpose than to single out transgender people and proactively discriminate against them. We’ve encouraged our members and supporters, and all those who support equality in Arizona to attend the hearings on the bill and also contact members of the Committee to urge them to oppose this bill.”
Necessity of Gender Neutral Bathrooms
Gender-inclusive bathrooms allow people who are transgender; androgenic, or just don’t fit into the constricting categories of male or female, to enter a bathroom without feeling uncomfortable. For some of these people choosing bathroom to use creates incredible anxiety; for fear of being told they are in the wrong bathroom or blatant harassment.
James Kelly, a 23-year-old transgender man, is a barista at Barnes and Nobles in Willow Grove Pennsylvania. He has been an active member of the LGBTQ community for almost 10 years. Kelly started volunteering in 2004 at his local rainbow room, a LGBTQA youth group for children 14-21 years old, in Doylestown Pa.
“When I first started transitioning I still looked very much like a butch lesbian so I just used the women’s room,” said Kelly. “It wasn’t until I started growing facial hair I felt comfortable using the men’s room.”
Having gender-inclusive bathroom removes this obstacle for tons of people in our community. Very simply, these types of bathrooms are available for everyone to use regardless of gender, race, or sexual preference.
Whatever your genitalia or gender identity is, you should be able to use a public restroom without having to endure harassment. Segregation is not an answer, but a way to keep oppression of any minority alive.
Gender-inclusive bathrooms are allowing people who are normally encased in anxiety by being forced to pick a door, to pee comfortably. But some people deem this new bathroom situation as “awkward” or “unsafe” because it is different and change is uncomfortable.
The fears that surround the all-gender bathrooms are not grounded in real danger; it is fear of change and breaking boundaries that have people hesitating before entering.
Rape and sexual assault are heinous crimes that sometimes occur in restrooms; however, a female or male sign on the door is not going to stop a predator from entering. Also, most men are not monstrous deviants that will act out and molest someone the minute they are not watched.
Just because people who do not identify as transgender, or gender queer are having anxiety over this change, does not mean these bathrooms are “dangerous.” If sharing a restroom with the opposite sex is too uncomfortable, here is a solution: use the restroom that is strictly designated for either sex.
Who are Trans* people?
A transgender person is someone whose gender assigned at birth doesn’t match their gender identity. Gender identity is how one feels about their gender internally, some transgender people refer to this feeling as being stuck in the wrong body.
Jayden Phillips, a 22 year-old transgender man, or FTM for female to male, plans to have top surgery, but will not have genital reconstruction surgery. “I’m definitely going to have top surgery cause my chest is huge” said Phillips. “But I’m not going to have bottom surgery because it’s not really perfected and I don’t feel like I need that surgery to feel comfortable with myself.
Surgery is question every individual transgender person must ask their selves if it’s right for them. Some opt to receive both top and bottom sexual reassignment surgeries, while others choose to only receive one of the two surgeries for multiple different reasons. There are also transgender people who choose to not have surgery at all.
Preferred Gender Pronouns
The rule of thumb is to use the pronouns that correspond with their gender identity. A transgender woman should be referred to with female pronouns. A transgender man should be referred to with male pronouns.
“There was this waitress one time was referring to me as sir and my mom screwed up and referred to me as she” said Phillips. “That makes me feel awkward cause one minute I look like a guy and the next minute, and my relatives are referring to me as a girl, so it gets awkward sometimes.
While some people take offence to incorrect pronoun usage, others let it slide with people who are not aware of their gender identity in public.
“It’s not worth getting crazy about, or causing a scene because, you look bad, and can potentially turn somebody off to being open to the idea of being friends with someone who is trans identified” Kelly said.
Gender neutral pronouns such as they, their(s), z, hir, do exist. But sometimes using gender-neutral pronouns like they and theirs feels weird, because it’s a plural pronoun and grammatically incorrect when using it in reference of one person.
Especially for students, professors, and staff members who are ignorant to the weight behind gendered pronouns. Saying “they” and “their’s” is actually a more encompassing neutral pronoun, because it isn’t restricted, and has both masculine and feminine components.
“I don’t really get upset with people, especially when they don’t know (I’m trans)” said Phillips.
If you are unsure of someone’s gender identity politely ask what are their preferred gender pronouns. If you use gendered pronouns that you think reflect their gender identity, and that do not correspond with their gender identity or preferred gender pronouns it is insensitive.
“I usually just say, hey I am male, please use male pronouns, something along the lines of that” said Kelly.
Assumptions perpetuate ignorance, and can be very hurtful. Remember; when in doubt just ask respectively!
History of The Transgender Movement
The transgender movement has only recently received support and advocacy from the gay and lesbian community and the public. The events that shaped the transgender movement gained momentum in the 1950s. In 1950, Virginia Prince, a transgender woman, along with a group of transgender people in Southern California published Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress. Although they only printed two issues, it was one of the first publications advocating transgender rights.
In 1960 Virginia Prince began another publication, also called Transvestia, which discussed transgender concerns.
Two years later Christine Jorgensen, a transgender woman, under went the first sex reassignment surgery. Even after her surgery, she was denied a marriage license in 1959. The icing on the cake was when her fiancé lost his job when their engagement was announced.
The Gay and Lesbian community originally were split between they wanted to accept, and embrace transgender people into their community. It is not uncommon for a transgender person to first come out as gay, and then come out as transgender.
Transgender people sought the support of the gay and lesbian community as allies and advocates for their fight for equality and equal rights. However, some gays and lesbians originally questioned whether integrating the two groups would be an asset in the fight for equality.
“I do think that while the gay community is wonderful in many ways, for a long time but the gay community was probably the most intolerant of trans people,” Kelly said. “…for the simple fact that being trans was viewed so negatively by the general public that a lot of the gay community didn’t want to be associated with the trans community.”
The hostility between the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual, LGB, community and the trans community began after the Stonewall riots in June of 1969. Jim Fouratt, now widely known for his transphobia, and friends evacuated Sylvia Rivera as well as the rest of the trans folk out of the Gay Liberation Front.
Susan Stryker, a renown transgender woman and trans active, described an interaction with Jim Fouratt in her book, The Transgender Studies Reader, “Transsexuals had started claiming that they were part of this new queer politics, which had to be stopped, of course, because everybody knew that transsexuals were profoundly psychopathological individuals who mutilated their bodies,” said Fouratt. “And (they) believed in oppressive gender stereotypes and held reactionary political views, and they had been trying for years to infiltrate the gay and lesbian movement to destroy it…” Stryker cut off Fouratt before he could continue with his insults at the “Lesbian and Gay History” conference in 1995.
With gay and lesbian activists following Fouratt’s mentality, the Gay and Lesbian Foundation removed transgender people removed from their proposed GLBT rights anti-discrimination bill in 1971. Their reasoning was that the bill wouldn’t pass if transgender people were included, because society wasn’t ready to accept them.
The bill failed regardless of the exclusion of the transgender community. Tom Stoddard, now head of Lambda Legal, fought against Fouratt for transgender inclusion.
In 1986 when the anti-discrimination law actually passed, Stoddard was one of the authors behind the bill. However, transgender people were not added into the bill until 2002.
Even though the trans movement has progressed immensely since its kick off in the 50s, there are still many disadvantages trans* folk endure.
For instance:
- 26% of transgender employees reported losing their jobs due to their gender identity. (Human Rights Campaign, 2010)
- 97% of transgender employees reported experiencing verbal harassment as well as physical assaults. (National Gay and Lesbian Task Force/National Center for Transgender Equality, 2009)
- “Military regulations deny transgender Americans the right to serve openly, and transgender veterans face significant discrimination in the Veterans Administration medical system.” (Transgender American Veterans Association/Palm Center study, August 2008)
The battle against oppression is an on going war. The progress the transgender movement has seen in the last 50 years paints a very hopeful picture for how much more accepting the world can be given another 50 years. With persistence and dedication to creating equality for all, oppression can and will eventually be a hazy memory.
