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Immersiveunreality said:
Thing is ,if it is a public bathroom it should be by public determination. |
First off, public means for the use of the public and generally funded by the public. Not that the public controls it directly. I don't get to make any decisions regarding how public transportation is operated, beyond the ability to elect officials who may share my views.
Secondly, how does that standard work in practicality? Obviously we're not going to have like a vote for every woman who wants to use a ladies room. And, suppose you have a cis-woman who people perceive as masculine? Should she not be able to use the ladies room? And what if she's also deemed too feminine for the men's bathroom?
Third, we generally don't want to and don't allow "the masses" to be dictating rights. It would obviously be illegal (in the US at least) to not allow black people to use a public restroom even if the public wanted that. Discriminating arbitrarily on the basis of sex is similarly illegal. The issue of whether sex should include gender identity is one that is I believe before the supreme court at the moment.
Personally I think male to female trans should be allowed to use women's restrooms while cis gendered men should not. That opinion is subject to change based on data that either shows that men do not tend to harass or assault women in women's bathrooms or that male to female trans do. The problem I have is in thinking of a clear, objective, and easily enforceable policy that would allow male to female trans while also disallowing cis-men.
Jaicee said:
Look, I'm not exactly asking for pre-entry strip-searching of anyone for a genital check (ew!), jeez! I'm just saying that if somebody who is very obviously male is in the women's room with me, I should be able to protest that without penalty because it would make me extremely uncomfortable. That is all. I don't think that's an unreasonable position to take. |
The problem is that "very obviously" is loose standard. It's pretty conceivable that there are some people who are cis-females that some people may consider "very obviously" male. And of course, there are many trans women who people would argue are "very obviously male". I think that standard would lead to discriminatory practices.
Last edited by JWeinCom - on 01 March 2020
