I Made Plans

When I was going to my nephew’s wedding in Asheville NC back around ten years ago I looked at maps to see where it was okay to go the bathroom* for the drive down there… New Jersey – safe, Washington DC – safe, Virginia – iffy, Tennessee – keep your legs crossed, and North Carolina – iffy.

How Tennessee’s Transgender Business Bathroom Bill Poses a Major Health Risk
Forbes
By Laken Brooks
May 30, 2021


In August of 2020, Lauren Jackson was spending a summer day at the Agate State Beach Park in Oregon. That’s when a routine visit to the women’s restroom turned dangerous. A man attacked Jackson. The stranger beat her and broke her jaw before he fled the park.

Jackson is transgender, and the assailant confronted her for using the women’s bathroom.

Unfortunately, Jackson is not the only transgender person who has been harassed or attacked near a restroom. 60% of transgender people avoid using a public bathroom for fear of being verbally or physically abused, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Almost a year has passed since Jackson was attacked, and Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee has signed a new bathroom law. The legislation would force all businesses in the state to publicly display a sign specifying if they encourage transgender customers to use the restroom of their choice. Nashville’s District Attorney (DA) General Glenn Funk and the Human Rights Campaign have spoken out against Lee’s bill.

Then there is the wording of the sign…

“This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom.”

Now doesn’t smacks as inviting non-trans men to use the women’s bathroom?

Then there is the Republican’s justification for the signs.

In 2016, previous North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory banned transgender people from using the bathroom in which they were most comfortable. He said that transgender-friendly bathrooms “could also create major public safety issues by putting citizens in possible danger from deviant actions by individuals taking improper advantage of a bad policy.” These warnings of sexual abuse, of men disguising themselves to prey on women using the restrooms, had no merit. Trans-welcoming bathrooms and locker rooms did not experience higher rates of assault or violence, according to a study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. However, this misplaced fear led some community members to take it upon themselves to police the bathrooms for people who may be transgender.

The first law that protected us from discrimination was passed in 1975 by Minneapolis, Minnesota and there has not a single trans person who raped a person in any bathroom and the reason why the Republicans keep saying rape by men disguising themselves and attacking women using the restrooms is simple to create fear. Fear of us, the Republicans don’t that it hurts us they only care about power and control.

In July of 2019, North Carolina agreed to cease their transgender bathroom ban. Unfortunately, this settlement came too late for a transgender woman in Raleigh who was sexually harassed and physically attacked when she was using the restroom.

They will lie, cheat, and put others in danger just to get elected. They will use hate as a voting tactic to drives wedges into society, hate of people who are different from them… Blacks, foreigners, Jews and Muslims, Gays and trans people, the disabled, any minorities are fair fame game for them.

Power and Control that is all the Republicans care about… getting votes to stay in control.

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* There is a booklet about Peeing in Peace but it is horribly out of date, you can read it here.