Their ‘safety’ scare tactics failed, now the bigots are using ‘safety’ to attack trans people
I’m trying to get into the holiday spirit — really I am. We’ve done some shopping and put up a few decorations. But the looming Texas legislative session is distracting, and the Trump circus just won’t leave town.
I noticed an editorial recently where a former student named Alexis Lightcap is suing her school, Boyertown Area High School because they followed a reasonable policy of permitting transgender students to use the bathroom that coincides with their gender identity. This policy is in force in districts across the country with few — if any — incidents.
Let’s not forget: Trans boys are BOYS; trans girls are GIRLS. The whole issue of “privacy” is a made up distraction.
Of note is the “law firm” pitching this case: The Alliance Defending Freedom is a group so extreme they have defended state-sanctioned sterilization of transgender people abroad, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has designated the ADF a hate group.
So, yeah — consider the source.
Look, I’m all about privacy. But the fact of the matter is, extending equal rights to transgender people does not come at the expense of anyone else. Making transgender people safe does not make someone else unsafe.
Trans people are just as concerned about privacy as anyone else and just as respectful. Maybe moreso in both cases.
Respectfully, if Alexis is so painfully shy or nervous about being in a public space, I strongly suggest accommodations be made to permit Alexis to use the bathroom near the nurse’s office, or perhaps she could use a faculty bathroom.
The answer isn’t to punish a whole class of people who have done nothing wrong.
Taking this fight to the U.S. Supreme Court is a sledgehammer solution for a thumbtack problem. If a student desires special accommodations for privacy, such accommodations are simple and inexpensive.
I also feel for Alexis because she is being used as a tool by people who couldn’t care less about her. Not that long ago, the ADF was attacking transgender people using bathrooms by saying it was a safety issue; they were scaremongering about “predators” — a tactic that didn’t work because it was a lie. And they knew it was a lie.
Now, it’s “privacy.” And Alexis finds herself the unfortunate mouthpiece.
Hey, ADF: Keep throwing spaghetti; maybe something will eventually stick.
Since Trump’s election, his administration has not just been attacking immigrants and insulting U.S. allies, he has been attempting to erase transgender people from existence. Presently, we have no employment protections and no housing protections, and we can legally be refused care by doctors. Trump is also trying to fast-track his transgender military service ban. And under the U.S. Department of Education and Justice, they now refuse to even hear a discrimination complaint from a transgender student.
I’m sorry Alexis, but check your facts kiddo. It’s not your voice that is being silenced.
Privacy is just the latest manufactured red herring bigots have come up with to attack transgender people. And you should consider it an insult to your intelligence.
Transgender kids don’t pose a threat of any kind. The last thing the average transgender kid wants to do is expose that which makes them different. I mean, think about your own days in high school or middle school.
Transgender kids aren’t the problem. They are bullied, verbally harassed, physically harassed and assaulted at a much higher rate than non-transgender students.
That whole “safety” issue was baloney, and people saw through it. Now they are trying to use privacy as an excuse for discrimination.
Bathrooms have stalls; nobody sees anything. It’s about the best you can hope for in a public bathroom.
So what are you worried about? Someone seeing you brushing your hair? Washing your hands?
What’s next? Curtains around the drinking fountain? You tried separate ones, remember? That didn’t work either.
Leslie McMurray, a transgender woman, is a former radio DJ who lives and works in Dallas. Read more of her blogs at lesliemichelle44.wordpress.com.
Thank you for your article.
I am a gay man or as some people today want me to say cis gender male. That i think is the core issue that leads into all other issues like bathrooms, service in the military, birth certificate designations etc.
Most importantly we do not discuss this enough and I mean real earnest open discussions not just repeating (or in too many cases shouting talking points). I had a discussion with friends over Thanksgiving on Trans as well as Gender Identity which devolved into the shouting kind. It seems we are tackling three things: Gender, Sexual Identity and Sexual Preference and have disagreements in all three parts with people conflating the terms interchangeable as we can not agree on definitions.
Take gender for example. Starts with Male or Female but now we are adding non-binary, N/A or nothing at all. My friend argued for the last three while I argued for the original two. He does not believes genes define your sex. I pointed out that genetically you can prove a child is male or female based on the XX or XY chromosome. As a community, we stated that we are born gay and that it is in our genes and even identified the markers or “Gay Gene”. To me, your are born male or female as a gender but due to other genetic markers, your Sexual Identity may be different just as we have discovered for Sexual Preference. The holiday discussion devolved from there.
If as a Community, we can not discuss this and come to a consensus, how do we expect others to understand if we do not have an understanding amongst ourselves or be respectful to each other trying to reach that understanding.