Plan B » Why We Need Bathroom Laws

DollyLongstaff · 4/21/2016 8:32 am

These absolutely necessary laws, which restrict transgender people from using the bathroom in line with their gender identity, are "protective" measures against "sexual predators."

The number(s) of these incidents is staggering.

The number(s)? A big fat zero.

It's a fact:
There has not been one single instance of a transgender person harassing a non-transgender person in a public restroom.

Spokespeople from the Transgender Law Center, the Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union told Mic that no statistical evidence of violence exists to warrant this legislation.

Vincent Villano, the director of communications for the National Center for Transgender Equality, told Mic in an email that there isn't any firm data to corroborate these lawmakers' claims, and that NCTE has "not heard of a single instance of a transgender person harassing a non-transgender person in a public restroom.

"Those who claim otherwise have no evidence that this is true and use this notion to prey on the public's stereotypes and fears about transgender people."

As for the big myth that transgender people using public bathrooms pose some sort of threat, a new report issued by Media Matters cites experts from twelve states – including law enforcement officials, state human rights workers, and sexual assault victims advocates – who debunk the myth that transgender non-discrimination laws have any relation to incidents of sexual assault or harassment in public restrooms.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (4/21/2016 8:46 am)

DollyLongstaff · 4/21/2016 8:38 am

More GOP Lawmakers Arrested For Sexual Misconduct In Bathrooms Than Trans People.

Multiple reports indicate that no transgender individual has ever been arrested for sexual misconduct in a public bathroom, while at least three Republican lawmakers have been arrested for sexual misconduct in a public bathroom.

Former U.S. Senator Larry Craig, Florida state Representative Bob Allen, and Mississippi Congressman Jon Hinson were all Republican lawmakers, and were all arrested for sexual misconduct in a public bathroom.

Meanwhile in Kansas ( more like Salem), lawmakers are considering new legislation that would pay students a $2500 bounty for reporting on transgender classmates using the “wrong” bathroom.

(What could possibly go wrong if that goes through?)

So much for Republicans who want the guv'ment our of their lives.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (4/21/2016 8:47 am)

zeke · 4/21/2016 9:26 am

"I just don't understand people." My father was born in 1899 (I was a love child and he was an older father).
He used to say that all the time because he didn't understand how/why people could be so insensitive and cruel to each other. (jokes, comments, hate, ridicule, and torture.)
Transgender people are trapped in bodies of someone of the opposite gender. Now there is opportunity to correct this condition for them so they may live the lives they need to live. I think that's pretty simple.
What is the fear about?
I don't understand it either, Dad, and this is 2016.

needtosay · 4/21/2016 12:53 pm

It isn't the transgendered people that are the problem. It is those perverts who will pose as transgendered to gain access to the womens restrooms to commit their perverted acts. There have already been cases of that. Mostly guys dressing up as women and going into bathrooms and video taping them by reaching their cameras under the stall. I got to thinking about this the other day and maybe it is time to change stalls to where there are cealing to floor stall walls so this kind of thing can't happen. Also a full on wall in front with real doors so people can't see through the cracks. I do think that there is a responsibility to women and children to not create danger for them. If they are going to do this they need to consider us and not compromise our safety.

DollyLongstaff · 4/21/2016 1:49 pm

Solving this "problem" is quite simple.
In the case of shopping malls and other public places; simply provide three or four individual stalls, one of which is handicapped accessible.

Exhibit A

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (4/21/2016 1:49 pm)

DollyLongstaff · 4/21/2016 1:50 pm

Exhibit B

DollyLongstaff · 4/21/2016 1:53 pm

Exhibit C

cossysmom · 4/21/2016 2:58 pm

I just don't understand why this has become an issue. Those who are opposed to someone who is using a bathroom for the sex that they "identify with" has probably already been in a bathroom with transgender people numerous times and just didn't know it. they are regular people. While someone be standing at the door and only letting in someone after checking to see if they are transgender or not. How can this be regulated? This is the most absurd thing I have ever heard.

needtosay · 4/21/2016 3:17 pm

Like I said it creates a safety issue for women and children not because of transgendered people but because of the perverts who will pose as transgendered to gain access to women's bathrooms and commit perverse acts. Dolly, that is what I am talking about. Most public bathrooms are nothing like what you show but that is what needs to be done.

cossysmom · 4/21/2016 4:11 pm

exactly what does a person "posing as transgender" look like? A man can easily dress as a woman now and walk into a woman's rest room. that has nothing to do with transgender issues

esm · 4/21/2016 4:26 pm

I think maybe people are confusing cross dressing with transgender? This law won't stop a perv from dressing as a woman to gain access to the ladies room, and transgender people are less predatory than closeted Republican statesmen who are tapping their toes in an airport bathroom. I still wonder why one allows their young child unchaperoned in a public loo........,

Last edited by esm (4/21/2016 4:27 pm)

needtosay · 4/21/2016 5:38 pm

The fact is if Transgendered women are allowed to use the womens bathrooms that opens the door to perverts to dress up like a woman and walk into the womens bathroom for perverse reasons. I know it isn't about transgendered but the laws will make it easier for men to enter the womens bathrooms unobstructed and no will be able to stop them because if they are questioned they just have to say they are transgendered. They would have to do something wrong before anyone can do anything. Laws allowing transgendered to use bathrooms of the gender they identify as also opens the door to perverts who only need to dress up in womens clothing and claim transgendered if questioned. It has already happened.

cossysmom · 4/21/2016 6:43 pm

so you feel that a transgender man who is now a woman should use the men's room? even though she is now a woman? and a transgender woman who is now a man should use the woman's room? Doesn't that mean it's even easier for a man--dressed as a man--to use the women's room? the argument just doesn't make sense to me.

needtosay · 4/21/2016 7:34 pm

I think for the safety of women and children they should leave the laws the way they are. It doesn't make sense to jeopardize the safety of many for the comfort of a few. I also worry about this extending to shower rooms at places gyms and swimming pools. I think in those places women and children are even more vulnerable to the perverts and also it would be confusing to children to see a person they think are one sex but they have the body parts of the other sex. Transgendered people don't always alter their bodies to match the sex they identify with.

cossysmom · 4/21/2016 8:15 pm

I understand your argument pertaining to shower rooms. By the same token, isn't it confusing for children to see women using the men's rest room and men using the women's rest room. When I'm wearing pants, should I use the men's room and when I'm wearing a dress, the ladies room? I think people are making more of this than it needs to be. Transgender people have been using the bathrooms for the gender they identify as for many, many years. You wouldn't even know the difference. Like I said before, there is nothing stopping a man from dressing as a woman and using the women's rest room now. But how often have you heard of that happening? Should we stop letting people walk into banks because they just might be a bank robber? It's the same argument.

needtosay · 4/21/2016 9:44 pm

You make a good point about kids seeing someone of the opposite gender using the bathroom. There is something stopping men dressed as women using the womens bathrooms right now. The Law. If I see someone who is obviously a man in drag I can go report him and someone can come make him leave. With the law changes no one can make the guy leave unless he does something wrong. If transgendered are already using the rest rooms of their choice why not just leave the way it is an not open the door to the perverts.

cossysmom · 4/22/2016 6:46 am

there are clearly people on both sides of this argument. All I'm saying is if you require a transgender person to use the restroom of their birth sex then there will be men using the women's rest room and women using the men's rest room. These people will not look like someone in "drag." They will look as normal as what I assume you to be and as normal as me. This opens the door for any man to use the women's rest room and any woman to use the men's rest room. Therefore, a "pervert" who would be obviously in the wrong rest room now would be able to walk right in without any question. THIS would be more dangerous than allowing a transgender person to use the rest room of the gender with which they identify.

needtosay · 4/22/2016 8:34 am

But if they are already using the bathrooms of their choice and no one is the wiser then why do we need to change the law? By doing that we are opening the door to perverts and that is what worries me.

cossysmom · 4/22/2016 10:10 am

I don't know. I think this all stems from some schools trying to prohibit transgender students from using the bathroom of the gender with which they identify and the whole thing has blown up out of the water. Unfortunately parents put pressure on the schools. And in this case if the student was known as Bill last year and comes back to school as Betty--everyone knows and it is very difficult for transgender children.

needtosay · 4/22/2016 11:00 am

I think it will be hard for all children to be honest. Pre-teens and teens especially. At those ages kids tend to be very body conscious and awkward about getting undressed in front of others. If they make this law for bathrooms it will extend to shower rooms as well and I do find that problematic for our schools. Transgendered teens cannot have the surgery to alter their bodies so showering and changing clothes can be awkward for all of them. I really don't think there is a solution that will make it comfortable for everyone.