By Shirleena Racine Baggett |Staff Writer|
Men, women and the other?
That tends to be the way our country classifies its population.
This division making headline news is in regards to which bathroom we should go into in public.
According to Monash University, sex refers to biological differences, internal and external sex organs, while gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture defines as masculine or feminine.
In other words, sex is biological and cannot be argued upon, and gender has been cultivated into picking and choosing which traits fit one’s personal identity.
North Carolina’s Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill which states that a person should go into the designated public restrooms and locker rooms corresponding to the gender given at birth.
“I have signed legislation passed by a bipartisan majority to stop this breach of basic privacy and etiquette,” stated McCroy.
And I support his decision.
Let me start with the opposition.
“This law is doing more harm than good. It creates more discrimination and bigotry than protecting safety of anyone. No one is benefiting from this,” said Pride Center Program Assistant Raul Maldonado.
Others are saying this is a huge safety issue because it forces those that are not “out” yet to feel singled out and targeted for possible hate crimes, including rape.
A resolution of course would be for larger businesses to offer unisex bathrooms, which will take some time and most importantly, money.
Now, let me point out the obvious.
The transgender community is the minority in this case.
It is unethical to force the majority to conform and embrace the idea of the need of “public” multi-stalled unisex bathrooms because of some people’s personal lifestyle choice.
Simplistic-minded people against the law suggest that all that takes place in restrooms are the processes of eliminating bodily fluids; in turn, there is no harm in sharing the space.
I beg to differ.
The bathroom is a place of refuge for all of us at some point.
Women utilize the restroom to cry, change pads and clothes, fix makeup, divulge in girl talk, and breastfeed.
There is a peace of mind and a sense of security that goes along with having separated toilet sanctuaries.
What about the people that are virgins, religious, or people like me who just want a women’s only bathroom?
By pushing for a mandate of public unisex bathrooms puts people’s purity, religious beliefs, personal space, and cultural morals at stake.
Or should they be devalued and undermined for the sake of “equality?”
“We are living in a time when people are coming up with crazy ideas that they might regret later,” said student Francisco Villegas.
“I wonder what will happen next,” added Villegas.
People who oppose this law are irrationally asking for wave a maturity, acceptance and open-mindedness to crash down on the minds of Americans in an expeditious rate.
Impossible.
It may happen one day, but for a fact, it is not happening tomorrow.
In my opinion, being transgender is a choice, and all choices come with positive and negative effects— this bathroom debacle needs to come to a halt.
Let me be clear; no one deserves discrimination, misogyny or oppression, but people need to stop being so sensitive and believe that they are entitled to immediate change that will affect us all.
Disagree. If the thought that the majority shouldn't accommodate the minority was put into effect for all minorities then we wouldn't accommodate folks who had disabilities, we wouldn't accommodate folks who speak languages other than English or Spanish, we wouldn't accommodate pregnant women, we wouldn't accommodate people from minority racial, ethnic and religious groups. There are civil rights laws for a reason- to provide all people with equal access to basic needs and services. As a public school that receives federal funding we are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of gender, and that INCLUDES ANY gender identity. Title IX protects trans and gender non-conforming students from discrimination based on their gender, so if anyone is experiencing discrimination, you do have the option to report. Everyone deserves to pee and feel safe doing so. CSUSB needs to catch up with schools like UCLA that have over 50 all gender restrooms. There should be all gender restrooms in at least every floor of every building. And while people can certainly have their own opinions, writing an article which advocates restricting a group's rights is dangerous and creates and reinforces a hostile environment for trans folks. Lastly we just want to say: up up up with trans rights! Down down down with transphobia!