Transgender activists call for bathroom tolerance

ASHEVILLE – Local transgender activists are insisting their bathroom behavior is no different than anybody else's.

Jennifer Barge, director of TransHealthCoordinators, is posting 100 beige and white fliers in restrooms around town. Her protest comes on the heels of Charlotte deciding against a special ordinance to protect transgender people in public restrooms.

"I am writing you to let you know that a transgender person recently used this bathroom for the purposes very similar to what you are now doing," Barge writes on the flier. "There was not a cause for alarm, there was no predatory intention, no sneaking in to look at you or your child ... I can help put that fear aside as that is not why we are in the restrooms. It has to do with simple bodily functions."

Earlier this month, Charlotte's City Council voted against expanding the city's nondiscrimination ordinance, which would have included sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity on a list of protected groups. It also would have prohibited discrimination based on someone's marital and familial status.

Before the vote, the council removed a section of the ordinance that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom in which they feel most comfortable.

That provision had been the focus of radio ads and thousands of phone messages in which ordinance opponents say letting biological males use women's bathrooms could endanger women and children. In recent years, several states have begun debating the issue.

"Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better," said LGBT organizer Basil Soper. "So many people want to be allies to the transgender community, but they focus on the transition, the physical experience, instead of realizing the issues at hand that are really hurting the community," he said.

"This is basic human rights," added Soper, who was assigned female gender at birth, but transitioned to a male in his mid-20s. "It's not about privilege or being viewed as a normative family or couple, it's about transgender people being able to use a restroom that is safe and comfortable for them."

Soper, who changed his name when he transitioned, said while studying at A-B Tech in 2013 he was verbally harassed and threatened for using the men's restroom. The school forced him to enroll using his birth name, which revealed that he was a transgender male. With his help, the school has since changed its policy.

Going back to the women's restroom would be like going back to a time when he wasn't comfortable with his body, said Soper, 28, who now has a beard and a flat chest.

It also wouldn't be fair to the women inside, he said. "They would be horrified for me to enter their space," Soper added.

That idea that transgender people must use the restroom that matches the gender they were assigned at birth is alarming, said Barge, who transitioned to a female when she was a teenager. "Can you imagine a man walking into a men's room and seeing me in there? I would be more frightened of them," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.