“We must fight to keep our state straight,” said North Carolina Senator Buck Newton.
The context of the speech was North Carolina’s refusal to allow transgender people the right to use the bathroom of their choice. From the perspective of the North Carolina Republican, I guess the harder we fight, the less gay we all become.
The issues around the country regarding transgender bathroom access are just one small aspect in the larger picture that is transgender rights.
If you’re worried about businesses accommodating gender neutral bathrooms, already 70 percent of the nation’s leading Fortune 500 companies have nondiscrimination policies that cover gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. The reason major companies care so much about nondiscrimination is because when communities are welcoming places for everyone, businesses flourish as well.
What is interesting to note about the whole situation is that people are taking a strong stand against transgender bathroom rights when, in reality, they know very little about the issue. For example, many Americans are unaware that 18 states now have laws and ordinances that protect transgender people from discrimination, yet there have been no increases in public safety incidents.
Some legislators and ignorant voters might be baffled by this. Recently, there has been a lot of talk about whether these laws will cause safety problems as many assume they will allow perverted old men to dress up to get into the women’s bathroom for a sick thrill.
Well, as it turns out, even after the laws and ordinances were passed to protect transgender individuals, assault was still illegal — who would have known?
If you still think that an increase in transgender rights to choose the bathroom of their choice will result in an increase in sexual assaults, then you are arguing a point that is not based in fact.
We shouldn’t continue to believe that allowing transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their choice is a problem. In this case, I would argue that if you’re focused on what genitals the person in the stall next to you has, then maybe you’re the one doing something illegal. This whole issue really shows the deep bigotry in the U.S against those who are different.
It’s not right to fight against something that makes other law abiding citizens’ lives easier, just because you feel like it. Experiencing all this hate toward a group of people is irrational, and these cynics should stay out of political and social issues.
On the other hand, if your heart really is in the right place, and you really did think that transgender individuals getting access to the bathroom of their choosing actually results in more assaults, then understand the facts and worry about the real issues.
A real issue relating to sexual assault to be concerned about, instead of the false idea of transgender bathroom assaults, is former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert who recently received only 15 months in prison for molesting children. This person should receive as much criticism as we can possibly muster up, not the transgender people who haven’t done anything wrong and just want to use a bathroom they’re comfortable in.
With everything that has been said, there is a solution to this issue. We should enact policies and ordinances that allow transgender individuals to choose the bathroom that they want, plain and simple. Allowing people to use the bathroom of their choice would also mean providing more gender neutral bathrooms.
Although transgender rights are still somehow a debatable topic, we need to continually look at the facts of the situation so we do not fall into a trap of ignorance set up by politicians who want to “keep their state straight.”