David Shelton

Submitted

CLARKSVILLE — The Tennessee State Legislature has already entertained a handful of bills designed to attack the LGBT community, but none of these bills are as mean-spirited, hateful, and downright dangerous the Student Bathroom bill.

The bill. HB2414, filed by Susan Lynn (R-Mount Juliet), mandates that “students in public schools and public institutions of higher education” use only restrooms and locker rooms according to the gender listed on their birth certificate. In other words, if a student — any student, whether they’re in middle school, high school, or even at a state university — is transgender, then they must use the bathroom that matches what’s on their birth certificate. If they were born male, then they must use the male locker room or restroom. No matter what.

To those unfamiliar with the intricacies of gender dysphoria and the reality of gender identity and expression, let me be clear. This bill is not only a terrible idea, it’s utterly horrific.

The “outraged” cries of those who support this bully-tastic bill usually insist that it’s to “protect children” and to “keep men out of women’s bathrooms.” The “fear” is that a “male” will walk into a women’s restroom and harass the girls, or worse. Former Arkansas governor and former Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee provides the best example of this kind seething transphobic rhetoric when he said:

“Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE. I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I'd rather shower with the girls today.’”

Not only is this comment a classic example of the flagrant hatefulness toward trans men and trans women in today’s politics, but it reveals a very obvious misunderstanding of the reality that trans people go through — and their very real medical diagnosis. But all of this bypasses one simple realty:

They. Just. Need. To. Go.

Sadly, this “I’ll decide to be a girl this morning” myth never seems to die, and it’s always played for laughs — the kind of laughs that gay jokes got thirty years ago. But it’s darker. More sinister. Why? Simple: Because trans people go through the process essentially to disappear. Their goal is to completely live as their true gender 100 percent of the time. Who’s going to check THEIR birth certificate?

As a result, the only people that society “sees” are the ones that are either in transition, or that have physical characteristics that still reveal their birth gender. They’re viewed as different. Freaks. I’ve heard the word “shim” a few times. They are completely derided, belittled, and viewed as less than human. They’re also the most vulnerable.

They are in this very delicate and sometimes very lengthy process to transition — and almost always under the guidance of a licensed therapist to help them along the way. In fact, the medical procedures are not allowed unless a therapist signs off on them. So they look different. Odd. Awkward.

We already know that gay teens are three times more likely than their straight peers to attempt suicide. Transgender people are more than twice as likely to attempt to take their own life from their gay peers.

And these are the people that Lynn wants to keep out of their preferred bathrooms. She wants to keep transgender women in men’s rooms, and transgender men in women's rooms. In reality, she wants to keep them in fear, to keep them feared, and utterly hated as outcasts.

It’s time we sent a message that this kind of hateful politics has no place in Tennessee any longer. Or anywhere.

David Shelton is a Clarksville small business owner and activist.