Terri Bruce

I am writing in response to Dale Bartscher’s My Voice column regarding the city’s actions on the proposed non-discrimination ordinance that in Bartscher’s words, “would have resulted in men being allowed into women’s locker rooms, restrooms, and other private facilities in all city buildings.”

Myth and misinformation touted as fact are the currency by which certain organizations seek to frame their argument against transgender people using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. In counterpoint, here are some actual facts. Transgender people have been part of humanity for as long as humanity has existed. Transgender people have used the bathroom of the gender with which they identity for as long as there have been bathrooms. Everyone that has been in a bathroom in a public space has been in the bathroom with a transgender person.

The most egregious of lies in the campaign against transgender people is the assertion that men are dressing up as women to use the women’s bathroom. This statement, when applied to the transgender community, implies that transgender women are not women at all, but men dressing as women, and doing so solely to gain access to the women’s bathroom. Transgender women, no matter how they are dressed, are women. Period. Transgender men, no matter how they are dressed, are men. Period. Gender identity is not a choice (did you choose yours?) and gender identity is not determined by one’s physical anatomy; it is between one’s ears. One’s external packaging does not determine one’s gender identity any more than it determines intelligence, personality or any other intangible trait that makes every one of us a distinct and individual human being.

Humanity exists on a spectrum and there are as many ways to be human as there are humans. Humans do not fit into neat, tidy boxes. Humanity is messy. I understand that some people do not like that, but we all have a right to exist, and we are all as deserving of a place on this planet, and fair and equitable treatment, as the next person.

The problem seems to be that we, as transgender people, are being judged not on our gender identity, but on our ability to meet the visual aesthetic by which everyone in this country is judged. If a person does not look feminine enough, how can they possibly be female? If a person does not look masculine enough, how can they possibly be male? And why, because we are different, are we being singled out, and why, because we are different, is it being implied, and sometimes stated outright, that we are predators, and that society must be protected from us? These are the same old tired arguments used time after time against groups of people that are judged, by some, to be a threat to society. Not once, in the history of this country, has that hyperbole shown itself to be true.

Transgender people are not asking for special privileges. We are simply asking that we be extended the same rights afforded to everyone else.

MY VOICE

Terri Bruce is a transgender man and transgender rights advocate who was born in Flandreau and raised in Sioux Falls. He is the great-great grandson of State Rep. Frank Peacock and the great grandson of State Rep. James Minahan. Terri currently lives in Rapid City. My Voice columns should be 500 to 700 words. Submissions should include a portrait-type photograph of the author. Authors also should include their full name, age, occupation and relevant organizational memberships.

Send columns to Argus Leader, Box 5034, Sioux Falls, SD 57117-5034, fax them to 605-331-2294 or email them to letters@argusleader.com.