I Gotta Pee By: Cathy Serino

​In recent months, it seems as if I am having the same debate at least once or twice a week in regards to the usage of bathrooms by Trans people. It is almost the same questions and concerns over and over again followed with me giving the same answers every time. As a result, I have decided to use this space to document the average debate in the hopes that by reading this, it will help educate the masses and eliminate the need to constantly have this debate on a one on one basis. The debate is almost always about the usage of bathrooms by Tran’s women, this article will focus primarily on that aspect of the issue.

Concern: “If we don’t pass these laws then our wife’s, children and grandchildren will start having to share a bathroom with Tran’s people.”
Answer: How do you know you haven’t already shared a bathroom with a Tran’s person? Tran’s people didn’t just fall out of the sky in the last year or two. There are over 700,000 Trans people in the US alone. They have been around for many years using the bathrooms that match their gender identity on a daily basis.

Concern: “It’s just too dangerous to allow Trans people into the woman’s bathrooms.”
Answer: There has never been a documented case anywhere in the US of a Tran’s person being accused of doing anything inappropriate in a bathroom and the only incidents involving Trans women in bathrooms have been when somebody see’s a Tran’s person trying to enter a bathroom and then proceed to attack them for just being there.

Concern: “Allowing Trans people into the women’s bathroom opens the door for fake people to dress as a woman so they can go into a restroom to commit a crime.”
Answer: If someone is planning on committing a crime in a restroom they are not going to care how they dress when they do it or if there is a law against being in there.  For example, creating “Gun free zones” has never stopped criminals from committing crimes in those areas.

Concern: “It makes me uncomfortable to have to share a bathroom with a Tran’s person. Why can’t they just use a separate bathroom just for them?”
Answer: Forcing a Tran’s person to use a separate bathroom amounts to discrimination due to segregation. 100 years ago those same arguments were used by white people to keep black people out of the bathrooms. If these laws pass what will be next? Separate water fountains, schools, etc.?

Concern: “I will lose my right to privacy if Tran’s people use our restrooms and should not have to be exposed to male genitalia”
Answer: Considering that public restrooms all have private stalls your privacy will not be affected and the only way you are going to see a Trans persons genitals is if YOU peek under or over the stall which would make YOU the one violating another’s privacy and the law.

​Concern: “It will just be too confusing for our children or grandchildren to see Trans people in the restrooms”
Answer: Below is a picture of a Trans Man who if these laws are passed would be required to use the woman’s room as these laws will not only force Trans woman to use the men’s room , it will also cause Trans men to have to use the women’s room. Would you want to use a restroom with him and have to explain to your children why he is in there? How about that for confusing?

At this point is where the debate usually ends as they almost always never respond after realizing that the law works both ways.
Now in regards to Tran’s students all the above apply with the addition of this.

Concern: “what’s to stop a non-Trans teen from pretending to be Trans just to get into the girls room?”
Answer: A kid does not just show one day and say “Hey I’m trans” and start using the opposite restroom. It just doesn’t work like that. There is a huge process for a student to get permission to use a different bathroom which involves the school staff and parents to prevent such a thing from happening.

In closing, all these laws would accomplish is to put trans people in danger of abuse and subject them to possible violence by forcing them to use the wrong bathrooms. In addition, the occasional CIS women who are “not feminine enough looking for some” could also be harassed or attacked because some people might think they are trans. Only by educating people and advocating will we be able to prevent these proposed laws from passing.