I was reading Murfser35's diary about Obama's decision on school bathrooms and two things caught my eye. The first was Chango's comment about his recent experience with a transgender student that just really spoke to me about how this issue affects kids. The other was the belief that this is a winning issue politically, because as it stands right now I am not sure it is and we might need to tread carefully...
When the whole NC bathroom issue flared up I found myself firmly in favor of allowing trans individuals a choice of which restroom to use. I presume there is some law somewhere that said men in women's bathrooms isn't allowed and that this would now override that. Great, this allows trans to legally use the restroom of their choice, but what about the perverts? If they assert that they are trans doesn't that mean there is literally no way to prosecute them now? I can just imagine the political ad where some unsavory looking individual is hanging out in a women’s restroom leering at everyone and some voice-over saying Democrats are in favor of this. Ouch.
Now let's consider some school specific problems. It is pretty common in a lot of college dorms that the bathroom also contains an open showering area. So now that political ad just got a whole lot more salacious... How would a school even punish a guy hanging out in a women's bathroom if he claims he is trans? Now what about locker rooms? I remember my high school gym locker room showers being completely open as well and I would bet most don't have individual curtained stalls. Without that extra privacy we must recognize that all bathrooms are not equal and blithely supporting a position that ignores this is a wedge we give our opponents. I just don't think there is an easy answer whenever changing and showering issues involving trans individuals are involved. I expect male and female separation to be unchanged, and I don't think any politician is advocating differently but I could be wrong. Should any consideration be given to a 17 year old male undergoing hormone treatment with secondary sexual characteristics? That one is tough, but how to write a law to cover all these cases sounds like a recipe for pissing everyone off right now.
Basically I just think it is a really bad idea to allow Republicans an opportunity to scare people, especially parents with young daughters. I want them scared of Trump. So how do we go about fixing that? I've got a few ideas, but unfortunately I don't know much about the trans community so perhaps someone can help me out here. I am willing to bet that any individual who is undertaking hormonal therapy and plans to fully transition wouldn't have any issues with declaring their intention to the state. Post surgery I would guess they would want new IDs anyway. What I am not sure about is someone who goes to work as a man, but dresses as a woman the rest of the time...
The important idea here is the state issued permit to use opposite sex bathrooms without showering/changing facilities. This would completely remove the whole Republican talking point about perverts in women's restrooms since anyone abusing the permit would have it revoked! In practice I doubt most trans would even bother with getting one, but the pure fact that it exists basically allows for the same prosecution of perverts as existed before.
For school age kids I would allow the parents the right to inform the school of their child's bathroom preference which must be honored, but I would also grant the principle the option to honor a child's preference for those under 18 even without parental consent. This gives trans kids bathroom only rights, and removes the talking point that kids would swap gender identity for a day or two as a stunt, etc.
It is really late and I can’t stay up to respond, but does this make any sense? Would trans people who don’t blend in and are questioned all the time freak out if they have to get a permit of some sort? Without a permit, or notification to a school, how does the state prosecute perverts if the law only requires they claim they identify as a woman at that point in time? How exactly do you deal with those idiot guys going into women’s bathrooms in Target? What about bathrooms with showering facilities? We need an answer to these questions/issues or I am afraid the political scare ads might just work. I also don’t want to see politicians being forced to give incoherent and conflicting answers when asked these questions.
