From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-mollmann/enough-with-the-bathrooms_b_5043042.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
Marianne Mollmann
03/28/2014
Recently, attempts to effectively implement the right to non-discrimination for trans people in the United States has been met with fear-mongering about inappropriate use of public bathrooms.
In Maryland, a lawmaker reportedly expressed concerns that predators and pedophiles might enter women’s bathrooms if that state passes a bill, currently under consideration, to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. In Arizona, some parents were worried about trans children choosing the most appropriate bathroom for themselves, lest this “infringe” on other children’s “privacy.” And opponents of a non-discrimination law in California, already in effect, are gathering signatures to have the law repealed, because, they say, it violates the rights of those students who may be uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with a person who is trans.
In fact, integrated public bathroom use seems to be the top objection raised in the United States to advancing equal rights for trans people, especially children. There are 3 main reasons for this.
First, there is a general discomfort among many Americans with co-ed social interaction as anything other than (straight) “courting.” Over the age of 5, co-ed sleepovers are seen as inappropriate by many, and school dances as early as 5th grade push the notion that you really should only show up with a “date” of the opposite gender. What children take away from these overly gendered (and hetero-centric) rules of interaction is anyone’s guess, but it is clear that many parents view co-ed friendships with suspicion.
Secondly, there is a common conflation of nudity and sex in US media and public discourse. It is telling that the discomfort around trans people’s public bathroom use is about potential sexual interactions rather than actually using the toilets.
As a logical proposition, the argument that bathroom use must be strictly divided on the basis of genitalia in order to prevent public sex has always confused me. For starters, experience shows that such interactions can and do happen without any connection to trans people. Most of us remember the 2007 bathroom stall incident that ultimately had Senator Larry Craig of Idaho resign, and news of straight couples having sex in public bathrooms surface with monotonous regularity. Moreover, it would be impossible to police genitalia-based bathroom use without engaging in precisely the kind of “peeping Tom” activity those opposed to non-discrimination protections for trans people claim inevitably would follow the adoption of such measures.
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