Every person on Earth and those few in orbit have to relieve themselves occasionally. If the need to use a restroom is a common experience for the human race, then it would be safe to say that transgender people also need to use one. However, if some people had their way, transgender people would have to hold it forever.
Whenever a piece of non-discrimination legislation is introduced, the first thing politicians worry over is transgender people using restrooms or shower facilities. Fear and prejudices grab of their minds. Many aren’t willing to listen to reality. I’m here to set them “straight.”
Let’s start with restrooms. I get the impression that some people think that transgender people are perverts, having only devious reasons to go into restrooms. A judge in Augusta, GA once denied a trans-woman a name change because he didn’t want her to be in the same restroom with women and little girls.
Judges and legislators forget that public restrooms have stalls with doors, preventing anyone from seeing the person inside. I’ve been alive for 56 years and I don’t recall seeing another person’s private parts when they used a stall. I have also never had anyone see my private parts whenever I used a stall. It stands to reason that a stall protects people from being seen. And, all the transgender person wants to do is go in, find a stall, relieve themselves, then leave. How hard can that be to understand?
The issue of transgender people using the restroom has become so heated in some places the authorities have arrested and even beaten transgender people for wanting to pee. Religious hate groups use this issue to frighten individuals whenever they want to thwart protection for LGBT people, even if transgender rights aren’t in the language. The fear of a penis in the women’s restroom can throw people into a tizzy, even if no one will ever see one.
If knowing that male genitalia may find its way into a restroom, just think of how freaked out some people get if confronted with the idea of finding them in the shower. “Oh, my God! The world is going to end!”
The issues some legislators have are with pre-operative male-to-female transsexuals having to use communal showers on a job site, or using them in gyms. They don’t seem concerned with female-to-male transsexuals using any shower facilities. I wonder how women would feel if a hairy, flat-chest, bearded FtM suddenly appeared in their shower room?
About 1% of the population could be considered transgender people, or about three million Americans. Only a small portion of them are transsexuals, of which about half are male-to-female. A percentage of them are pre-op. The population is so small and the number of industries having showers are so few that the chances of any company having a problem is probably greater than a person winning a big lottery. And yet, politicians cannot get past this one nonsensical issue.
Some industries may have single-room communal showers, but also provide individual stalls for those who aren’t comfortable showering around other people for whatever reason. Some have skin conditions, tattoos, or they just don’t want people seeing them nude. Transsexuals who don’t wish to shower around other people can also use those stalls.
Older industries, such as coal, steel and auto, may still have just single-room communal showers. We know of a female-to-male transsexual who transitioned in the steel industry and didn’t feel comfortable showering with men or women. The company now allows him to shower at different times than the other employees. They worked it out. Remember, he was an FtM transsexual and not an MtF.
Thirty-one percent of the country’s population lives in jurisdictions that cover employment protection for transgender people, without restrictions. To this date, there hasn’t been one court case involving a woman suing her company because a transsexual showered with her. Companies and gyms figure out how to accommodate their employees/customers, while remaining respectful to all of them. Businesses excel when it comes to this way of thinking.
And finally, it amazes me when legislators want to restrict transgender people from showers, yet support the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The biggest reason the Pentagon says gay and lesbians cannot serve is that straight people don’t want to shower with them. How can a person tell the Pentagon their shower concerns are ridiculous, yet turn around and use that same excuse against transgender people? Their inconsistency will forever boggle my mind.
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