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Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
Is the fight for Bathroom Equality necessary?
bathroom usage, bathroom bills and, most importantly, bathroom equality. This interests
me because before maybe around 2015, bathrooms had not been in the forefront of
rights issues since the 1960s. I wanted to examine this debate and see what I could
grab from it and as I studied this topic I came to my current thesis. The decisions of this
issue can and will change the we as people interact within bathrooms no matter your
race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. This may even eventually reach out
of the United states and into other western societies as well. I have decided to join the
more opposed side of those who believe that the fight for bathroom equality is
unnecessary. This is important because I want to prove that the inequality that the
the media, who is upholding their narrative, would like you to think.
To start, I want to look at where this issue began to gain its prominence. The
most prominent case on the topic of bathroom bills is Grimm v. Gloucester County
School Board. Student Gavin Grimm had been diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria and
as such the doctor recommended as part of his treatment that Gavin begin using the
restroom that parallels with his gender identity. He was able to do so for weeks but
parents complained leading to the school board creating a policy that demanded
students use the restroom assigned to their biological sex. The school, however did
make special accommodation for Grimm and those like him but this was seen as
discrimination and as such a suit was filed by the ACLU on Grimms behalf. This was on
the grounds that the school boards treatment of him violated Title IX of the Educational
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
Amendments Act of 1972. Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in any
educational program that gets federal funding. The Department of Education (DOE)
restrooms based on sex. But in 2015, the DOE issued a memo saying that when a
school decides to treat students differently based on sex, it generally must treat
transgender students consistent with their gender identity. 1 The suit was initially turned
down but that decision was subsequently appealed. Grimm got his victory but at what
cost? Grimm is a part of a minority by all rights. Transgender people are .06% of the
United States population according to a study done in 2016. 2 This means that
statistically with Gloucester High school only having an upper level enrollment of 2000
students Gavin Grimm would be the only transgender person in the entire school. This
may not be true but it does give an insight to how much of a minority he really is. In
such a case the school has a responsibility to serve every student and so even though
Grimms concerns are valid he is one of many and should be willing to compromise with
the school.
Furthermore, the fight bathroom equality is unnecessary for a few reasons. the
one of these reasons is that transgender has become too broad a term. The problem
that people are having is that there is a new segment of the transgender community
that calls themselves genderqueer. These people believe that one can be transgender
without the trans, in other words they believe that you don't have to transition to be a
in order to uphold such a label. Gender dysphoria is defined as the conflict between a
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
person's physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify. 3
The problem that we face today is that these genderqueer people don't really seem to
want a specific gender they just wanted to be what is called non-binary in other words
they want to be special they want to sit in the middle. The thing is, gender has no
middle, you are male or female, you have masculine traits or feminine traits. This fact is
see throughout all of nature and yet they try to challenge this notion. Transgender is
defined as people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at
birth.4 Enter the bathroom bill an idea spawned from these new transgender people
that do not even attempt to look or really be transgender they just say they are and like
magic they are a member of the LGBT community. There are now plenty of people who
fear that they could be at risk to someone who just says they are transgender but does
father who is afraid that his daughter could be attacked by a man who enters the
womens restroom behind his daughter after Target initiated a neutral bathroom policy to
better serve the transgender community. Izzy Avraham took his daughter to target to
speak to the manager about this new policy. He asked her on a practical level how
Targets policy worked out if my 6-year-old daughter walked into the womens restroom
and someone with a biologically male body walked in behind her. 5 The manager
responded with, Target has always had a policy of non-discrimination, and that if
parents had concerns we could use the family rooms, or Tirzah could come in the mens
washroom with me, Avraham wrote. I told her that as a concerned dad, Im
uncomfortable with Targets decision to allow people with male bodies in the womens
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
washrooms. And that we think its weird. We thanked her and left. I kept the whole
conversation really polite and as relaxed as possible. The Blaze article goes on to say
that Izzy Avraham and his daughter thought it was weird for target to allow biological
male bodies into female restrooms. They once again quote him with this passage on
inclusivity:
So, heres what so wrong about this. Targets recent inclusivity announcement
concludes by saying Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And youll
youre ok with men walking into the bathroom behind my baby girl doesnt make
me feel like I belong. It didnt make her feel like she belonged either, to hear the
manager tell us that in person. Basically, Target just told us and millions of
their stores.
My friends, Target has crossed a line, and I believe this is a test case. If youre a
concerned parent I invite you to do three things. 1. Share this story. 2. Then go to
your nearest Target and do exactly what we did. 3. Then share your story, and
This is an example of how trying to make big changes for the few can impact the many.
Target only took account of how the transgender community would feel and by doing so
There are up to nineteen states currently applying or fighting bathroom bills and a
common defense against the bills is that transgender people have no precedent of
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
putting women and children at risk.10 The problem is this is untrue as there are multiple
cases of such freedom allowing a loophole for predators to enter. In 2012, a man in
Toronto, where gender identity bills that allow for entrance of public spaces based on
gender identity have been passed, by the name of Christopher Hambrook, is said to
have posed as a transgender woman named Jessica and sexually assaulted several
women.6 There was also a situation at the University of Toronto where a woman saw a
cellphone reach over the shower stall dividers. This is a case of voyeurism that
happened on two separate occasions and caused the University to change its policy.7
These are clear examples of what an open or gender neutral bathroom policy can cause
and lead into my second reason why the fight for bathroom equality is unnecessary: a
victory for transgender people with create a loophole for predators. An example of this
that overlaps with both this and my previous point is that of a man in 2016, Seattle,
Washington who entered the womens changing room at a public pool and began to
unclothe in front of female members both women and children. When asked to leave by
the women he said, The law has changed and I have a right to be here. the women
had to get pool staff to ask him to leave only for him to return during another youth lap
swim. According to Life Site, officials stated he had made no attempt to present himself
was a man. But appearances do not matter when it comes to "gender identity." LGBT
theorists hold that biological sex is distinct from gender, which is determined solely by
the person's mental self-identification. They say that they want people to feel
comfortable but with such an open-ended policy how could anyone feel comfortable?
Many felt that the man was just trying to peep on women "Either identify yourself as a
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
transgender or you're not, and you're just taking advantage of a loophole," Maryanne
Sato, who visits the pool several times a week, told USA Today.8 Apparently, there was
another incident in 2012 when a 45-year-old biological male who calls himself Colleen
young as six. According to the police report an eyewitness stated, There were girls 6 to
18 years of age and they were not used to seeing individuals in situations like this. But
the facility gave him the right to continue using its facilities as he wished. 8 This
disproves the point that there has been no precedent for crime with such openness.
Transgender people may not be endangering others directly but indirectly they are
My antithesis would probably speak on how the fight for bathroom equality is
necessary due to the nature of bathrooms in movements like the civil rights movement. 9
but there is a large difference in this case is that authentic transgender people; people
who dress and/or transition to the opposite sex, have been going to the restroom that
they identified with, with no problem for decades it was only when the umbrella of
transgender became broader that there became a problem. I reference to the case of
the man at the Seattle pool Life Site states that, Some in the city(Seattle) felt the action
was intended to stoke those unfounded fears. Gunner Scott, a transgender activist, told
KIRO radio host Jason Rantz he felt concern that this was a setup by opponents of
LGBT equality to try to exploit the recent debate of basic rights of transgender youth.
But even if that is so it shows that there is a clear-cut loophole to this sort of leftist
activism. They would also suggest that bathroom bills assume that what transgender
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
people feel is not valid. This is also untrue, it is just that the feelings of children and the
99.94% of people are cared for as well and must be taken into consideration.
All in all, with so many equality bills already in place and so many people working
to ensure the equality of people of all races, creeds and orientations, there is no reason
to be having a battle over who uses what bathroom. People who pass or at least
sex they identify with not their gender and others should look for a compromise with
single user restrooms or going to the restroom of their biological sex. Also, transgender
people who have had sex assignment surgery should not be required to go to the
restroom stated upon their birth certificate because they pass as the opposite sex and
essentially are now a member of the opposite sex by all accounts. That is an
infringement on their right to privacy and personal liberty and as no one can tell they are
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
Annotated Bibliography
1
Ulrich, Lana. "National Constitution Center." National Constitution Center
This article provides a large amount of unbiased history on the debate behind bathroom
bills and what has brought them into the forefront of the LGBT rights movement. I
am using it to get information on the origins of the prominence this issue has
2
Hoffman, Jan. "Estimate of U.S. Transgender Population Doubles to 1.4 Million Adults."
The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 June 2016. Web. 08 May 2017.
This article talked about the rising number of transgender people in the United States.
At this point the percentage has effectively doubled but is still small in comparison to
most other groups being as it is a subset of many other subsets. I used this to indicate
3
Parekh, Ranna, MD. "What Is Gender Dysphoria?" Psychiatry.org. N.p., Feb. 2016.
speaks of the characteristics and research behind gender dysphoria and the issues that
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
those who experience it must fight through. This article also makes the distinction
4
"Transgender FAQ." GLAAD. N.p., 14 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 May 2017.
This source was used to define transgender as a specific term rather than an umbrella
of people. It talks about gender identity and the difference between sexual orientation
and gender identity. There is also talk of pronouns, respect and equality.
5
Urbanski, Dave. "Dad Takes Daughter to Target to Confront Manager on Transgender
Bathroom Policy - and Isnt Happy About What the Manager Tells Him."
This Article focuses on a father who dislikes targets new restroom policy which allows
for people to enter bathrooms based upon gender identity alone. It caused a problem for
him as he felt that his daughter would be at risk of attack by predators looking to take
6
Baklinski, Peter. "Sexual predator jailed after claiming to be transgender to assault
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
This Article speaks on a sexual predator that used open ended laws set in place by
leftists and transgender activists in order to better serve the LGBT community as a way
transgender. I made use of this article to prove the point of indirect hard transgender
7
Chin, Jessica. "U of T Decreases Gender-Neutral Bathrooms After Voyeurism Reports."
The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 07 Oct. 2015. Web. 3 Mar. 2017.
This article focuses on two cases of voyeurism at the University of Toronto where they
have gender neutral showers and how this created a space where women began to feel
unsafe and had to have designated zones to bathe among other things. This was used
as an example of how the system can be abused if the transgender community has their
way.
8
Johnson, Ben. "Man strips in front of girls in locker room, says transgender law allows
This article covers the story of a man who enters a recreational pool in Seattle only to
enter the womens locker room and begin to undress in from of young girls and
their mothers saying that the law entitled him to be there. He clearly looked like a
man and made no attempt to look feminine. This shows the tragic flaw of gender
identity as it, being a mental state, can be asserted on a whim and is not proven
Myndra Aaron
Gray
ENGL 1102
Research Essay
with the only real basis being how someone feels. I used this to prove that point
and to show what such open-ended laws can do to our society and how they
9
Steinmetz, Katy. "Transgender "Bathroom Bills:" Inside the Debate." Time. Time, 28
This article although with an unbiased name, is very much so toward my anti-thesis so I
show what sort of thoughts or ideas those who oppose my way of thinking may
have. The article was about how the debate effected transgender people, how
they feel, how they have not committed crimes in restrooms which I have a hard
10
Kralik, Joellen. ""BATHROOM BILL" LEGISLATIVE TRACKING." National Conference
This article is a legislative tracking page of all bathroom bill legislations up until April 12
2017. I used this source in order to get an accurate number of the number of states