Derek Brockhaus
Ms. Snyder
English 2
12 October 2018
Why is there a Controversy against Transgender Restrooms Use?
Transgenders have been in society since the ancient times, but it is still a big controversy today. Why you ask? It is because of today’s society and their morality. People believe in keeping people happy, not hurting their feelings per se. Micah Issitt explains in an overview of this topic that a transgender is classified as a “[human] whose gender identity or expression differs from the gender they were assigned at birth based on their physical sex characteristics,” (Issitt para. 7). This is only a simple definition of the word transgender. The transgender community only sums up about 700,000 Americans and less than 1% of United State’s population (Issitt, Points of View Counterpoint, para. 9). Some citizens of America lean towards restroom use based on gender identity rather than gender identified at birth. But the majority of the population stick with history, leaning towards people using facilities based on gender identified at birth. The opposition between these claims lay in the restrooms themselves.
Let’s start with our one side of the spectrum: people shall use restrooms based on their gender identity at birth. One claim towards this point of view is evidence of cases of rape shown in mainly women’s restrooms. Men have easy access to women’s restrooms where it is appropriate to use a restroom based on your gender identity. Research has shown that 99% of the rape cases are cased by men to women (Haver, para. 15). This fact affects millions of women worldwide from the strenuous assault caused by men posing as a transgender woman. One fourth of these women will be sexually abused during childhood (Haver, paragraph 16). This faction could increase significantly if laws are passed to allow restroom use based on gender identity because it will be easier for sex predators to invade the privacy of the women that are using these facilities. These claims of sexual harassment towards women pushed the viewpoint of Americans towards restroom use using the gender identified at birth. This viewpoint, using a biblical perspective, does not show moral degradation in society because God intended for males to do task meant for males and females to do task meant for females. This also includes personal space that is required like public restrooms. This viewpoint is not the case for all American citizens.
Here comes the other end of the spectrum. The other percentage of Americans lean towards restroom use based on gender identity. One claim towards public restroom use based on gender identity stands solely on people’s self-esteem and todays society’s values of respecting all people, including the transgender community. We try to accommodate the needs of the transgender community by providing restroom based on their gender identity rather than their gender identity at birth. This concept allowed Jeannie Gersen of The New Yorker newspaper to skip the long women’s restroom line and walk straight into the men’s restroom because there was no line (Gersen para. 1). This might be helpful for people who identify themselves as cisgender, “An individual who is not transgender, that is, whose gender identity aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth based on their physical sex characteristics,” (Issitt para. 2). These people usually call themselves “normal people”. They can use either restroom, whenever they feel appropriate. But, what about the transgender community? Recently in Houston, Texas, an ordinance prohibited discrimination including sex, race, religion, and gender identity (Gersen para. 3). This ordinance is trying to satisfy the request of the transgender community. If these laws are to satisfy the transgender community, today’s society will eventually accept them as the norm because it doesn’t discriminate other parts of the population.
Restroom use based on gender identity shows moral degradation in society today because of God’s intention for humans. Sin has corrupted the world since the beginning of time and still shapes our viewpoints on what is moral and what is not. Over time, our moral concepts of what is good and what is bad has changed substantially since the 19th century. But the same system of separated restroom facilities still continue today. Jeannie Gersen from the New Yorker news publication, states in her article “Who’s afraid of Gender-Neutral Bathrooms?” She states how, “in the nineteenth century, [federal legal codes] mandate that there are separate facilities for each sex, in businesses and places of work. These widespread codes could be changed one by one. But it seems more likely that, when it comes to multi-stall bathrooms, gender segregation will remain the norm, and that we will see the addition of more single-stall restrooms that are open to any gender. Transgender people’s need to use bathrooms that match their identified gender is modest and not reasonably denied. Old ideology, in the meantime, stays alive in mundane legal regulation that resists more thorough change and determines our plumbing,” (Gersen para. 9). Restrooms have always been segregated because it allows the privacy for cisgender to relieve themselves in a comfortable setting.
Sin has brought us to rewrite what’s moral and what’s not moral in our society. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, the world has changed our minds on morality and what is acceptable. We have learned that we need to accept everyone’s views because we cannot be discriminatory towards other, even if they contradict God’s Law and the 10 Commandments. God calls for Christians and believers to change the status quo about what society’s morality tells us to a biblical perspective. Got tells us to “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands,” (Ephesians 5:22-23 English Standard Version). God calls for people who live in homosexuality and people who don’t identify as male or female based on gender identified at birth to repent for their sins. But, yet again, society won’t let anyone discriminate against the LGBT community.
Our morality in today’s society believes that transgenders have the right to use which ever bathroom they so choose. But, if we were to allow this to happen, this could lead to more sex crimes committed by so called “sex predators”, imitating a transgender to gain access to a women’s or men’s restroom. This is not morally right for many reasons. The one solution to make everyone safe and happy will be to add more single-stall unisex restrooms, to accommodate every person’s need. The Bible tells to not conform into today’s society, but our society also forbids discrimination towards all people. We, as Christians, believe that this solution will keep our morality towards God, while not being discriminatory towards others.
Works Cited
Gersen, Jeannie Suk. “Who’s Afraid of Gender-Neutral Bathrooms?” The New Yorker, Condé Nast, 25 Jan. 2016, www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/whos-afraid-of-same-sex-bathrooms. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.
Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2001. Accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
Haver, Kaeley Triller. “A Rape Survivor Speaks out about Transgender Bathrooms.” The Federalist, 23 Nov. 2015, thefederalist.com/2015/11/23/ a-rape-survivor-speaks-out-about-transgender-bathrooms/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.
Issitt, Micah L. “Transgender Restroom Use.” Points of View: Transgender Restroom Use, 2016, pp. 1-7. Points of View Reference Center, web.a.ebscohost.com/pov/detail/detail sid=cdfe1315-25cb-42fc-843f-34942ae3f7a8@sessionmgr4006&vid=3&#db=pwh&AN=1 14927051. Accessed 28 Sept. 2018.
Nichols, James Michael, editor. “Poll Shows the Majority of Americans Oppose Transgender People Using Preferred Bathroom.” The Huffington Post, 13 June 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/transgender-bathroom-rights_n_5492286.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.
Park, Madison. “Transgender Kids: Painful Quest to Be Who They Are.” CNN, Cable News Network, 27 Sept. 2011, www.cnn.com/2011/09/27/health/transgender-kids/index.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.