Maradyn Briggs

English 2010

Dr. Canavan

Research and Synthesis

The Transgender Bathroom Debate

The average person uses the bathroom 4-7 times a day, and that's just urination (Smith).

Think of how often you are outside of your house when the call of nature hits. At work, at

school, even when out engaging in social activities, you are pulled away to the bathroom. It

seems like a place in which politics are null and yet there is an ever rising conversation on the

politics of gender-segregated facilities such as bathrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms.

Transgender individuals access to these facilities is on the chopping block. Which people

should be allowed within these rooms? How does gender vs. sex change the way that people are

perceived in entering a bathroom? Is it a safety issue for transgender people to use them, if so for

whom, the transgender individual or those they are sharing the bathroom with? There are a

variety of ideas and answers to these questions, the main voices of which will be explored and

expressed in the following pages.

To start this discussion, we must first establish a definition for the term transgender, this

proves slightly difficult as the conflicting sides of the conversation have anywhere from nuanced

to brazen differences in their definitions. Ash Mardell defines transgender as any individual

whose gender does not match the gender they were assigned at birth. Assigned at birth is the

term used to describe the practice of giving children a gender as they are born, established

mostly by their chromosomes and sexual characteristics (Mardell 14). However, other sides of
the discussion have differing definitions for transgender individuals, one of which conflates

transsexual for transgender, and describes individuals are those who go from one gender to the

opposite gender (Transsexual). Although these definitions vary on the idea of how someone is

transgender, they typically agree upon the idea of the physical requirements of being

transgender. Mainly following the idea that being transgender is having been born in a body that

expresses its sex in contrast to the gender that person lives as, i.e. someone who may have

originally had male genitalia, but now exists under a female name, using female pronouns and

for all intents and purposes is a woman. Another important definition for the context of this

paper is the term cisgender, which refers to individuals born into a body which generally

expresses in a sex that matches the gender of the individual, i.e. someone born with male

genitalia, living as a man. (Mardell 8).

Having gathered the most important definitions addressed in this paper, it comes time to

look at the question itself which is as follows: Should transgender individuals be integrated into

gender-segregated bathrooms? To give examples: should a transgender woman be allowed to use

the womens restrooms? Or a should transgender male athlete be allowed to compete in a male

wrestling tournament, as well as use the mens locker rooms to change and shower afterwards?

This is being discussed in social norms as well as legal standing, prominent in the HB2

(North Carolinas House Bill 2 from Session 2016-3) bill and all reiterations of it, both in North

Carolina, and following in the same vein in other states. However there are a rising number,

sitting at approximately 8, of these Bathroom Bills approaching legislation. According to

Times article, Lawmakers in 6 More States Are Pursuing Bathroom Bills And Thats Just the

Beginning published in January 2017, the states pursuing such legislation are : Alabama,
Missouri, South and North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Washington and South Dakota. However

to understand the significance of the newer bills, the original North Carolina House Bill 2 must

be understood, and within its context.

The HB2 bill is multifaceted but for the purposes of this paper only the bathroom and

changing facility-regulating legislation will be discussed. The HB2 bill regulates general public

spaces as well as public schools in that public restrooms are only to be used by the individuals

whose biological sex matches the restroom (General Assembly House Bill 2, 1-2). Biological sex

in this case specifically refers to the gender assigned at birth, reflected by said individual's birth

certificate. In other words an individual may only use the male restroom if they have, and were

born with a penis, and only use the womens room if they have and were born with a vagina.

The second bill which is important to look at in order to understand the magnitude of

these policies is the Texas Senate Bill 6. The Texas Senate Bill 6 adopts a significant amount of

the HB2 legislation but it is specifically worded to focus more intently on public schools. Where

people may only use the bathrooms that match their biological sex (Kolkhorst 3). Though this

bill also targets any public organization, or even private corporations if they use public buildings,

also, if these policies werent followed heavy fines were awaiting anyone who didn't comply

(Kolkhorst 6).

The call for integration of laws supporting and protecting transgender individuals use of

public, gender-segregated bathrooms seems to be the most vocal. One of the major reasons for

the call of integration is to protect transgender individuals from harm, be it psychological or

physical. This threat of harm is shown through the following study of these minorities and their

experiences. The findings of the study entitled Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress,
found in the Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, sheds light on the significance of

the issue in its findings that 18% of study participants, who all identified as transgender, were

denied access, 68% experienced verbal harassment or violence and a remaining 9% experienced

a form of physical violence upon attempting to use public gender-segregated restrooms (Herman

71). Some of these percentages were overlapping, however, with a total of 70% of the

participants in the study experiencing at least one of these negative reactions. This constant

denial of and negative repercussions in attempting to partake in an integral part of identity found

in average daily living creates a type of minority stress, that impacts a transgender person's life

profoundly (Herman 78).

This mental stress and physical danger is also represented in the account that transgender

individuals give upon being asked about their experiences in gender-segregated facilities. One

poignant statement comes from Tyler Beebe, a transgender woman in a story covered by USA

Today, who said Transwomen are killed for using the mens restroom and theyre jailed for

using the womens restroom, in the end what choice do we have? (qtd. in Dastagir).

Another example of the stress and psychological damage that segregation can cause is to

speak about Gavin Grimm, a young man whose legal case sparked a lot of attention and

controversy who, has made many statements regarding the mental stress that being denied his

appropriate bathroom has caused him.

Gavin Grimm is a young man who attended Gloucester High School in Virginia. He

began his transition the summer before sophomore year and asked his school administration to

refer to him as Gavin, and speak of him using male pronouns. His school administration did, in

fact respect his wishes and allowed him to exist quietly and peacefully among the student body.
He asked for permission to use the boys public restroom, which was granted, and for seven

weeks he went quietly about his business unconfronted. In November of that same year the

school board held a meeting about his use of the public restrooms, at the end of which they voted

to remove his access to the boys restroom (Grimm). He then filed a lawsuit against the school

board which has made it to the Supreme Court, but has since been sent back to lower courts

(Stolberg).

One of the most notable messages he has shared, spoke both on the stress and emotional

pain it has caused him, while also negating some of the oppositional ideas that the allowance of

transgender individuals into gender-segregated bathrooms would cause damage to cisgender

(non-transgender) individuals I sat while people called my [sic] a freak. I sat while my

community got together to banish a child from public life for the crime of harming no one he

went on to say they invalidated me in perhaps the most humiliating way possible (qtd. In

Marimow and Brown).

In contrast to these earlier points of view, is the opposition to the integration of

transgender individuals in gender-segregated bathrooms. This opposition is caused by the idea

that those born with male genitalia will always be male and someone with female genitalia will

always be female. This leads to statements such as the one that Pat McCory, former governor of

North Carolina, made in discussing the Gavin Grimm case. I also firmly believe that in a

middle school or a high school, a male should not be able to use the females' locker room or

shower facility. And I'm not apologizing for that. I just think it's common sense (qtd.in

Ex-N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory Offers His Take On Transgender Rights). The idea behind this

point of view is that the allowance of integrated bathrooms would open up bathrooms for
individuals who want access to the bathrooms for negative, inappropriate, and often sexual

reasons.

Some people find the idea of allowing transgender individuals into bathrooms, on par

with opening up public restrooms, changing rooms, or locker rooms, to anyone who so chooses

to be in them. This point of view tends to fall under the belief that transgender means

whatever gender I choose right now that gives me access to what I want. This typically leads to

the conclusion that anyone who wants access to a gendered bathroom will take the opportunity to

enter it. Most often the point is made that cisgendered pedophillic men or rapists will take the

allowance of transgender women into the female's bathroom as a pass to be voyeuristic or assault

young women and girls. Kolkhorst, the author of the Texas Senate Bill 6, speaks about this being

the very reason she wrote the bill in the first place this is a bill to say men should not go into the

womens restroom (qtd in Steinmetz). The argument is that men will use this as an opportunity

to sexually expose themselves or violate women and young children. One example of this comes

from Seattle in which a cisgendered man entered a women's locker room in a public pool and

began to undress, he was in the locker room at the same time as a young girls swim team was

getting dressed for practice. When confronted the cisgendered man stated that the laws had

changed and he had every right to be there, not once did he assert he identified as a woman, he

just used the allowance of transgender individuals into gender-segregated facilities as an opening

for his actions. (Morrow).

One position that supporters of the the HB2 bill have is that transgender individuals

themselves are immoral, wrong, and pedophillic or sexually inappropriate. Following this

ideology there is the belief that transgender individuals themselves will be the physical
perpetrators or sexual predators of the situation. This is a feeling Senator Kolkhorst gives voice

to with her statement to Time that anyone with an idea of gender identity will go into private

spaces and do harm (qtd. In Steinmetz). These views typically seem unfounded and yet every

now and then there will be a case reported such as that which took place in Idaho, concerning

Shauna Smith, a transgender woman who was arrested for the crime of voyeurism. Smith was

arrested for the count of video voyeurism in a gender-segregated female changing room at the

department and clothing store Target, where the victim had been a young woman reportedly

trying on bathing suits. When pressed about her actions she stated that she had done it for the

same reason men go online to look at pornography (Chokshi).

However there is pushback against this sort of statement in defining transgender people

as sexual predators as a whole, and against any sexual predator who happens to be transgender

from the general public and the LGBT community. Specifically Mara Keisling, an executive

director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, made a statement regarding this

particular case saying This has nothing to do with whether or not I should be allowed to use the

bathroom in a restaurant, whether a first grader can use the bathroom, whether a high schooler

can play sports, If a person was a voyeur, they should be dealt with by the legal justice system

the way they deal with voyeurs.

Though the public has a significant amount of polarized opinions on this topic. More

research is needed to know exactly how the consequences of any actions or social policies affect

not only the minority of the situation, transgender individuals, but the social majority,

cisgendered individuals. However, it seems unlikely that the research needed to give one singular

factual outspoken voice on the topic will arise before legislation can be passed, whether it be a
bathroom bill like the HB2 bill, or one promoting the integration of gender-segregated

bathrooms, the call for legislation is louder than the call for research.
 Works Cited:

Chokshi, Niraj. Transgender Woman Is Charged With Voyeurism at Target in Idaho.

The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 July 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/us/target-transgender-idaho-voyeurism.html.

Dastagir, Alia E. The imaginary predator in America's transgender bathroom war.

USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Apr. 2016,

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/04/28/transgender-bathroom-bills-discrimina

tion/32594395/

Ex-N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory Offers His Take On Transgender Rights. NPR, 27 Feb. 2017,

www.npr.org/2017/02/27/517458876/ex-n-c-gov-pat-mccrory-offers-his-take-on-transge

nder-rights.

Grimm, Gavin. Gavin Grimm: The Fight for Transgender Rights Is Bigger Than Me. The New

York Times, The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/opinion/gavin-grimm-the-fight-for-transgender-rights-is-b

igger-than-me.html.

Herman, Jody L. Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender

and its Impact on Transgender People's Lives. Journal of Public Management & Social

Policy, vol. 19, no. 1, 2013, pp. 6580. Proquest,

www.search.proquest.com/openview/6ebbae07eff8c4f2349657f3b7c86545/1?pq-origsite

=gscholar&cbl=2026673.

Mardell, Ashley. The ABCs of LGBT . Mango Media Inc., 2016.

Marimow, Ann E., and Emma Brown. Judges hail transgender teen Gavin Grimm as human

rights leader. The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Apr. 2017,

www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/judges-hail-transgender-teen-gavin-grimm-

as-human-rights-leader/2017/04/07/ade47f12-1bc8-11e7-bcc2-7d1a0973e7b2_story.html.

Morrow, Alison. Man in women's locker room cites gender rule. KING, 16 Feb. 2016,

www.king5.com/news/local/seattle/man-in-womens-locker-room-cites-gender-rule/65533

111

Smith, Jordan. How often should you pee? CNN, 27 Apr. 2016,

www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/health/pee-too-much/index.html

Steinmetz, Katy. Lawmakers in 6 States Are Pursuing ' Bathroom Bills' And that's Just the

Beginning. TIME, 5 Jan. 2017, time.com/4624009/bathroom-bill-lawmakers/.

Steinmetz , Katy. Texas Senate Approves Controversial Bathroom Bill After Five-Hour

Debate.TIME, 2017, time.com/4701658/texas-senate-bathroom-bill-sb6-transgender/.

Steinmetz , Katy. Texas Senate Moves Forward with Controversial 'Bathroom Bill'. TIME, 8

Mar. 2017, time.com/4693808/texas-bathroom-bill-hearing/.

Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. Bathroom Case Puts Transgender Student on National Stage. The New

York Times, The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/us/gavin-grimm-transgender-rights-bathroom.html.

Transsexual. Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster,

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transsexual.

United States, Congress, General Assembly of North Carolina. House Bill 2. House Bill 2,

2016th-3rd ed., Session Law, 2016, pp. 15.

United States, Congress, Kolkhorst. A BIll to be Entitled. A BIll to be Entitled, pp. 112. Texas

Legislature Online,

www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/85R/billtext/pdf/SB00006I.pdf#navpanes=0.