Among President Trump’s executive orders are several limiting transgender people’s access to public restrooms and other gendered facilities. These include a set of executive actions that seek to define sex as only male and female as determined “at conception,” prohibit federally funded schools from allowing transgender youth to use restrooms that align with their gender identity, and ban transgender girls and women from playing on women’s sports team or accessing women’s locker rooms.
A new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that transgender people face increased risks when required to use bathrooms according to their sex assigned at birth.
The results show that transgender respondents to the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey who consistently live according to their gender identity were significantly more likely to be denied restroom access or to experience verbal harassment when they used restrooms that aligned with their sex assigned at birth.
- Among transgender men who used women’s restrooms (i.e., according to their sex assigned at birth), about 10 percent were denied access, and nearly 11 percent experienced verbal harassment in the past year, compared to those who used men’s restrooms (5 percent and 7 percent, respectively).
- Among transgender women who used men’s restrooms (i.e., according to their sex assigned at birth), 7 percent were denied access, and nearly 9 percent experienced verbal harassment in the past year, compared to those who used women’s restrooms (5 percent and 7 percent, respectively).
“Current policy debates about transgender people’s access to restrooms are based on a narrative, asserted without evidence, that safety and privacy in women’s spaces are at risk,” said lead author Jody Herman, Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute. “However, research shows that transgender people are the ones who face harm from others in these spaces, including being denied access, verbal harassment, and physical assault. Moreover, they are at greater risk of harm when laws require them to use restrooms according to their assigned sex at birth.”
The report also reviewed existing research on the risks to occupants when transgender people are permitted to use gendered facilities that align with their gender identity. Additionally, it examines studies regarding the experiences of transgender people accessing restrooms and the impact on their lives when they are unable to safely use these facilities.
Overall Safety and Privacy in Public Restrooms and Gendered Facilities
A 2018 report by the Williams Institute used criminal report data from several Massachusetts localities to assess differences in the rates of crime in areas with and without nondiscrimination laws that protect transgender people’s ability to use restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms according to their gender identity.
- Overall, incidents of safety and privacy violations in these gendered spaces were rare.
- There was no evidence that privacy and safety changed when transgender people were legally able to access restrooms and other facilities according to their gender identity.
— David Taffet