Why Virginia bathroom bill can and will be harmful to transgender students
Even though it is 2016, the argument for which bathrooms transgender people should use should be over, and it unfortunately is not. Mark Cole, a republican lawmaker that resides in Virginia, proposed a law in early January stating transgender people who use the restroom that does not coincide with their “anatomical sex” and could be fined $50 for using their preferred restroom.
One of the major issues pertaining to the restroom debate is that, rather than educating themselves, state lawmakers and representatives like Cole continue to feed into the mistreatment and harmful stereotyping of transgender individuals. Unfortunately, the stereotype that is one of most common is the main blame for the restroom debate – that transgender individuals are inherently hyper-sexual predators against women and children, barring them from going to the bathroom.
What it comes down to, ultimately, is that cisgender (those who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth based on their genitals) people are severely misinformed about those who deviate from the “typical” gender binary. They are unknowledgable of the term “gender dysphoria”, used by non-cisgender individuals to describe the feeling they get when they are disconnected from the gender they appear to be. These times of dysphoria are one of the main reasons for mental illness in the transgender demographic, and what causes the difficulty for transgender people to use their non-preferred restroom.
When transgender people are accused of being sexual predators for wanting to use the restroom they fit with personally, it is important to pull out the numbers necessary to educate. A study done by the National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 78 percent of the non-cisgender students are harassed, 35 percent experience physical assault and 12 percent sexual violence. 31 percent of this these violent acts were implemented by teachers or staff. So when Cole wants to pass a bill specifically targeting non-cisgender students in an already hostile environment, the risk of these percentages skyrocketing is much too high, considering the proposal potentially invites said adults to inspect children’s genitals before using bathrooms and locker rooms without their consent.
The hypocrisy is astonishing. State lawmakers and everyday citizens have the audacity to call non-cisgender, specifically trans individuals, sexual predators while also advocating for the potential sexual assault of children. Giving adults the upper hand in a setting in which a child is inherently a victim, no matter the circumstance, is despicable and disgusting. Already the issues of sexual assault, abuse, and harassment in children is a huge unspoken and unaddressed problem; 1 and 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys are victims of sexual assault. This goes without mentioning unreported or ignored cases, particularly by young boys and teenagers who are seen as weak for the abuse committed against them. So when transgender individuals are accused of being sexual predators when statistics show that the demographic that commits that most assaults are white men, at a shocking 99 percent, the issue becomes more than harmful. It comes down to outspoken transphobia disguised as false concern for victims while ignoring the actual issue.
Also, automatically connecting gender and sexuality is a gross misunderstanding and failure of self-education; sexuality is separate from gender and is decided by the person, nobody else. So this means some transgender people may consider themselves “straight” – for example, a transgender male be exclusively attracted to those who identify as female. This means when lawmakers and everyday people pin homosexuality on transgender people and call them sexual predators, it both demonizes homosexuality and being transgender. Painting any identities that are not straight or cisgender in this kind of way makes them seem to be inherently predatory identities.
Because of miscommunication, discrimination, and general sheer ignorance, those making the laws for transgender people are uneducated and transphobic cisgender men and women. Lawmakers continuously bring in the arguments of religion and sexuality when defending their decisions, when religion should be separate from law and sexuality is separate from gender.
