What is the big deal with bathrooms today??? The last time I checked the purpose of a bathroom was to relieve yourself of your natural bodily functions. Apparently there is more to do in a bathroom than most of us thought. Bathrooms have been around for decades and we have never had such an issue about them until now.

The bathroom bill movement started around 2012-2013 with college campuses installing gender-neutral bathrooms. Than in late 2014 early 2015 Texas and several other states passed a bill that would require transgender individuals to use bathrooms that match their birth gender. It was in 2016 that the federal government came into play and stated that people can use the bathroom that closely matches the gender they see themselves as. Than when Trump came into office he banished that and now we are back to square one. In the middle of all this mess you had the HB2 bill that happened in North Carolina restricting trans people from using any other bathroom than the one that corresponds to their sex at birth as well.

My question is how did we get here? When did simply going to a restroom become such a controversial topic? Trans people have the right to go to the restroom just like anyone else and its not up to the government whether its Federal, State, or local to decide which bathroom we go into. When I was a kid and the lines were long my dad took me into the men’s bathroom with him to pee. For crying out loud all we have to do is pee. Why should I be forced to go to the women’s bathroom when I obviously don’t identify with it. Nor as I grow further into my transition will I look like I belong in there.

Aydian Dowling is a prime example of someone who most women would yell if he came into the women’s restroom.

Does he look like he belongs in the ladies restroom?? No, of course he doesn’t, but according to today’s society because he was born a female he should technically go to the ladies restroom. Want to know how I think a transgender child, teen, or adult uses their genitals in the bathroom? To eliminate urine. Surprise! Oh, and thanks to social stigmatization and ignorance, that same individual will probably do their business and then hurry out of the restroom as fast as possible. Not what I want for the people I care about.

The ones who are being affected by this the most are children. Children can’t simply go to the bathroom they identify with without getting yelled at. So what are we talking about here? We are talking about girls being able to use the girls’ restroom, and boys being able to use the boys’ restroom. It explicitly states a student may use the facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records. It does not say “all students” can pick which bathroom they want to go in, depending on their mood. We are NOT talking about boys using the girls’ bathroom and girls using the boys’ bathroom. We’re just not. If someone says we are, he or she does not understand what makes someone a boy or a girl. Having a penis or a vagina does not make someone a boy or a girl. Being a boy or a girl references one’s gender identity, which exists in one’s brain. Talking about genitals only references one’s natal sex. For those people who insist having a penis or a vagina is what determines whether someone is a boy or a girl, why?? WHY must genitals trump brains? I don’t understand. What is this focus on genitals? Why do some people act as though what someone has in their pants is more important than what they have in their heads?? I mean, you could function and lead a productive life without a penis or a vagina (provided there were modifications made for the elimination of urine), but you can’t function or lead a productive life without a brain. Brains trump genitals, as they should in the gender debate.

Others seem convinced a transgender person is going to be interested in looking at other people’s genitals in the bathroom. That whole “man in a dress in the women’s restroom” argument? Only serves to prove the ignorance of the opponents. A transgender woman is not a man in a dress, she is a woman. She likely has the same interest in seeing the genitals of the other women in the restroom as the general population. In my 31 years of life I have never once had someone climb over or under the bathroom stalls to see what genitals I had. This just isn’t natural curiosity in human beings. Transgender individuals being “allowed” to use the restroom that matches their brain gender identity is not enough. The understanding of gender identity needs to be increased in the general population. Please, if you care about this issue, speak up.