Just to be clear, the definition of transgender is ''a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex'' and not, someone who will enter a bathroom and will present an immediate threat to anyone. I just felt that clarification was necessary. Many conservatives feel as if sharing a public bathroom with someone who identifies as transgender is a danger to their personal safety.
But this is what I don't understand, at home you presumably share a bathroom with your daughters, wife and or all family members. So why does sharing a bathroom with someone of a differing gender only bother you in a public bathroom? And frankly why does this bother anyone in any case? Sharing a public space with someone who is transgender should have absolutely no affect on you in the slightest. This is a space in which you pee and leave. Its pretty simple.
In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, transgender actress and activist Laverne Cox made the excellent point that this argument isn't about the usage of bathrooms, just like segregation wasn't about water fountains. It's about the debate on whether transgender people have the right to exist in public space. Its about bigoted and ignorant people coming to terms with the fact that Transgender people exist and they deserve basic human rights.
This argument that many conservatives put forward is that ''ordinary people'' are at risk in public bathrooms because with the rules regulating transgender people using whichever bathroom they wish, sexual predators and attackers will take advantage of this and will cross dress to commit sexual assaults in bathrooms. In 17 states and 200 cities in America that let transgender people use the bathroom that they wish, there have been 0 incidents like this reported. It's important to remember that these supposed perverts and creeps that conservatives are mentioning will continue to attack with or without these transgender laws. Conservatives are using transgender people as leverage in this apparent militancy on women's safety in public bathrooms. But it's not as if women's safety is an issue that conservatives and Republicans care so strongly about.
These bigoted arguments source back to the historical ignorance that has been felt towards people in the LGBTQA community for centuries and the misinformation that they spread with this ignorance. Another example of this is many making assumptions that all gay men are also paedophiles. These conservatives spread this misinformation due to a lack of understanding and knowledge of the community and what it stands for. Such strong felt views that have been passed on from one generation to the next, and these views never have any substantiated evidence. These views are nothing more than stereotypes and stigmas that have gotten out of hand.
When people don't understand something, instead of reaching out to educate themselves on the particular issue at hand, they turn to preaching hate and prejudice towards the thing they don't understand. It's easier for conservatives to blame transgender people for these crimes instead of blaming the thousands of straight, white men who attack women in public spaces, because these conservatives are straight white men. They've raised straight white men and their lives are surrounded by them, so they don't wish to accept that they are the real threat in public spaces.
Now more than ever, it's so important to be spreading messages of love, support and unity towards the transgender community. We need to be educating others on transgender rights and making people understand that they are not in any way a threat to your personal safety. This hatred and bigotry that Trump and his supporters are preaching is far more dangerous. Please, if you are transgender, stay strong. And keep fighting because transgender rights are, and will always be, human rights.