Travel to our families, traveling to take advantage of a long weekend or for whatever reason one of our concerns is where to pee in peace.
There is a quote that I use in my training PowerPoint from the 2015 U.S. Trans Survey…
It means if you are a 6’6” trans woman with large bone structure, large hands and feet, with a deep voice you are going to face a lot more discrimination, hatred, and violence than 5’6” with delicate features trans woman.
When I went down to Asheville N.C. (before HB2) I was concerned where I was going to take rest stops even though all my documentation said I was female I still was concerned.
There is a website that list gender neutral and “safe” bathrooms and there is a book called Peeing in Peace that gives tips. But a word of caution; just because it is listed as a “safe bathroom” it may have since changed to a very not safe bathroom.
The support group that I’m with used to have a list of “safe” nightclubs one was a LGBT bar but it changed hand and became a country western bar and when some trans people walked in they got a very cold shoulder, so beware of lists.
Worrying about safety on the road is not new; it is as old as the human race… “Beware there are dragons here” used to be marked on the earliest maps and for black here in America there used to be something called the “Green Book” that listed safe places for blacks traveling here in the U.S.
And the sad thing is here in America the need for the “Green Book” and the “Peeing in Peace” is making a comeback.
The Freedom—and Fear—of Traveling While TransgenderOkay… one of the big factors that she doesn’t mention is “Passing Privilege” it is nice to be able to walk around and not be identified as trans but for many trans people that is not an option and that is where the danger lies.
When you travel as a transgender person, you are truly 'out' in the fullest sense of the word, refusing to hide from a world that would often rather you stay out of sight.
The Daily Beast
By Samantha Allen
November 10, 2018
One of the many ironies of being transgender is that, after coming out, “in” becomes the safest place to be: In your bedroom. In your apartment. Stick to your comfort zone and you avoid potential annoyance, harassment—even physical violence—but you end up seeing the paint on your own four walls and not much else.
Maybe that’s why traveling as a transgender person feels so incredible, despite all the hassles: Not only are you out as yourself, you are truly “out” in the fullest sense of the word, refusing to hide from a world that would often rather you stay out of sight.
The freest I have felt since coming out as a transgender woman wasn’t when I first started feeling the mood-lifting effects of hormone therapy, or when I woke up in the hospital after sex reassignment surgery—it was when I simply stood on top of a rock outcropping in the East Fjords of Iceland, listening to the Sveinstekksfoss waterfall plunge into a pool of glacier-blue water behind me. I was out, and I was out.
[…]
I want to see the rest of the world. But more than anything, I hope I live to see a world where all transgender people can taste the same freedoms I have started to feel.
There is a quote that I use in my training PowerPoint from the 2015 U.S. Trans Survey…
Visual non-conformity is a risk factor in causing anti-transgender bias and its attendant social and economic burdens.So what does that mean?
It means if you are a 6’6” trans woman with large bone structure, large hands and feet, with a deep voice you are going to face a lot more discrimination, hatred, and violence than 5’6” with delicate features trans woman.
When I went down to Asheville N.C. (before HB2) I was concerned where I was going to take rest stops even though all my documentation said I was female I still was concerned.
There is a website that list gender neutral and “safe” bathrooms and there is a book called Peeing in Peace that gives tips. But a word of caution; just because it is listed as a “safe bathroom” it may have since changed to a very not safe bathroom.
The support group that I’m with used to have a list of “safe” nightclubs one was a LGBT bar but it changed hand and became a country western bar and when some trans people walked in they got a very cold shoulder, so beware of lists.
Worrying about safety on the road is not new; it is as old as the human race… “Beware there are dragons here” used to be marked on the earliest maps and for black here in America there used to be something called the “Green Book” that listed safe places for blacks traveling here in the U.S.
And the sad thing is here in America the need for the “Green Book” and the “Peeing in Peace” is making a comeback.
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