Alicia Vignalats

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Mr. Davis
Government/Economics
26 October 2016
The Bathroom Battle
People in this country are prejudiced everyday in one form or another. The
LGBTQ community is one of the most prejudiced communities in, not just the nation, but
the world. Citizens of this country are created equal & independent, that from that equal
creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of
life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness, (PBS) yet people who identify as the opposite
gender are not allowed to use their preferred bathroom. Transgender women and men are
assaulted daily when entering the bathroom they are biologically assigned to. The
proposed bill should become a law because citizens civil rights are being tampered
with, health and safety are in jeopardy, and because ones gender is not based off of their
sex.
By not letting transgender men and women use the bathroom they identify as, the
government is violating transgender civil rights. Bathrooms are a place where people of
any race, sexuality or gender can relieve themselves, but that usually is not the case for
transgender people. In 2015 alone, at least 21 trans women were murdered. Even
compared with lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans, transgender Americans are
disproportionately bullied in schools, discriminated against in the workplace, and denied
places to live, (Polis). Transgender people are discriminated against more harshly
because they are not seen as natural and have been seen as liars. There had been
some reported incidents where men and women who were not transgender would dress
up as the opposite gender and then would rape or sexually harass men or women. We

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have to change a culture that denies the existence of trans people, denigrates trans lives,
and excuses trans deaths, (North). Transgender peoples rights are being completely
ignored. Most rape, assault, and sexual harassment cases filed by transgender people are
not investigated and the perpetrator is released. Health and safety is another topic that
falls under the umbrella of transgender civil rights issues.
Almost everyone who opposes the bathroom bill is concerned about getting
sexually assaulted by a transgender person, though the possibility of that happening is
extremely low, but what about transgender people getting sexually assaulted by straight
women or men? The probability of a straight male dressing in clothing associated with
the opposite sex and trying to rape women in bathrooms is more common than anything
else. Over 200 municipalities and 18 states have nondiscrimination laws protecting
transgender peoples access to facilities consistent with the gender they live every day,
according to the coalition. None of those jurisdictions have [sic] seen a rise in sexual
violence or other public safety issues due to nondiscrimination laws. Assaulting another
person in a restroom or changing room remains against the law in every single state,
(ABC). Transgender people were given the chance to use the restroom they identified
with and there was no rise in sexual assault. Justice and Education Department officials
have repeatedly emphasized that under their interpretation of Title IX, the federal antidiscrimination law in education, schools receiving federal funds may not discriminate
based on a student's sex, including a student's transgender status, (CNN). Public schools
receiving public funds cannot discriminate against transgender students, meaning they
must let the transgender student change where he or she wishes or away from other
children if he or she wishes it or public funding will be cut. Even after all of the laws and

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debates limiting what transgender people can do, some people still do not know that your
gender is not related to your sex.
Gender is what society designates as masculine or feminine while your sex
depends on what sexual organs you have. Transgender womens gender is female, while
their sex is male and transgender mens gender is male, while their sex is female. There
is no evolutionary, genetic or primordial drive for a gender binary as we do it and
absolutely no primordial drive for two bathrooms, one labeled male and one labeled
female, says anthropologist Elijah Edelman of Rhode Island College. We have
thousands of cultures that do not, and have not, had the gender binary we have right
here, (Time). Edelman states that our culture is one of the few cultures that includes
only two genders with no room for anything in between. However, in order to explain
why some people felt that they were trapped in the wrong bodies, the psychologist
Robert Stoller (1968) began using the terms sex to pick out biological traits and
gender to pick out the amount of femininity and masculinity a person exhibited,
(Plato). The terms sex and gender were used to distinguish the persons sex from
what they identified as, but now we use the two terms as though they are synonyms.
Which bathroom one uses, should not depend on their sex, but on their gender, if that is
what they are more comfortable with. Ones gender is what matters when considering
what bathroom one chooses because in our society, we have what is called a gender
binary, and sometimes people feel forced to pick between one gender or the other.
People who oppose this bill might say this bill will be abused by sexual predators
and if so, why doesn't the government pay for gender neutral bathrooms to be constructed
using taxpayer money? If we let people of any sex enter any bathroom they wish to use,

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no matter if they consider their gender to be different, this will open the door to
Pedophiles and perverts. Constructing gender neutral bathrooms would also be far less
complicated than clearing everyone who wishes to use a female or a male bathroom.
Advocates say that while there are some past examples of heterosexual men dressing up
like women to gain access to womens spaces, theres no record of that behavior
increasing when theres an LGBT non-discrimination law on the books. We have so
many places that do prohibit discrimination where this has never come up, says the
Equality Federations Rebecca Isaacs. This is a red herring,(Transgender). Although
there have been cases in which men or women dressed in clothing associated with the
opposite gender, these cases have not been found to be more prevalent once businesses
enforced gender neutral bathroom rules. ... Willy Wilkinson offers an account of
community organizing around the AIDS crisis. The vulnerability and marginalization of
trans people in the public health arena were brought into stark relief by the epidemics
disproportionate impact on trans women, (Paisley). It is also thought that transgender
men and women will somehow transfer sexually transmitted diseases or AIDS if they
share bathrooms with people whose sex is different from theirs. However this is not true
whatsoever and trans peoples have banded together while AIDS was found to be more
and more common in trans women. If this bill is made into a law, there will not be a rise
in attacks caused by sexual predators and sexually transmitted diseases will not be
transmitted for often than before, for it is not possible.
Transgender men and women should not have to be told which bathroom they
may use because, citizens civil rights are being tampered with, health and safety are in
jeopardy, and because ones gender is not based off of their sex. The Bathroom Battle is

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such a small but big part of, not just transgender rights, but also of LGB rights. Gay and
Lesbian people are still prejudiced against and are assaulted more often than straight
people. Gay and lesbian teenagers are thirty percent more likely to commit suicide
compared to straight teenagers. Transgender children are forced to use the locker room
that corresponds to their sex, but not their gender and are taught early on in their life that
who they really are is not correct in today's society. Allowing transgender people to use
the bathroom that corresponds with their gender will not cause suicide to stop completely,
but it will help to lower the number considerably.

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Bibliography
Websites:
"Congressman Jared Polis, 2nd District of Colorado." LGBT Equality & Civil Rights.
N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"Declaration of Independence, "Original Rough Draft"" Declaration of Independence,

"Original Rough Draft" N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

Kornwitz, By Jason. "Menu." News Northeastern. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Mikkola, Mari. "Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender." Stanford University. Stanford
University, 12 May 2008. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Periodicals:
Borrello, Stevie. "Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Organizations Debunk
'Bathroom Predator Myth'" ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"W.H. Issues Guidance on Transgender Bathrooms." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d.
Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

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Books:
Currah, Paisley, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Minter. Transgender Rights.
Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 2006. Print.