You Get To Be Carefully Taught…

The kids know, the kids don’t care whether you are trans, Black, Asian, an immigrant, they only care if you’re their friend.

How You Can Make Bathrooms Safer for Trans and Nonbinary People
Teen Vogue
BY KATE SOSIN, THE 19TH*
MARCH 5, 2024

For many trans and nonbinary people, bathrooms can be complicated places to navigate — a fact highlighted by the death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma is far from an outlier when it comes to failing to provide safe and equitable bathrooms for transgender people. According to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks LGBTQ+ policy, 13 states have a policy that prevents transgender people from safely or legally using public bathrooms.

But data shows that even in states with trans-friendly policies, transgender and nonbinary people report high rates of harassment in public bathrooms. Advocates say everyday people can have a big impact in interrupting discrimination in gendered restrooms. Here’s how anyone can help prevent abuse.

Before you are six or seven or eight, To hate all the people your relatives hate—

Allies can help tremendously by locating and pointing out gender-neutral bathrooms to friends or family who might need them. This is especially important for people planning events or parties. Make sure your space has safe bathrooms.

[…]

Offer to be a bathroom buddy to your trans and nonbinary friends
Carrie Soto, a South Dakota parent of a transgender child, said she lives by the mantra “see something, say something.”

That means speaking up when there is bullying and harassment and volunteering to accompany a trans/nonbinary friend or family member when they have to head into a public bathroom.

“Validate a trans person’s fears and anxiety about the situation,” Soto said. “ If [my daughter] uses a gendered restroom and feels anxious, I go with.”

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear, You’ve got to be taught from year to year,

“If you see someone who you clock as trans or nonbinary, just smile or pay them a non-provocative compliment. … Wish them good day or good evening, and move on,” Green said. “Of course that only goes for the women’s room! In the men’s room, talking is extremely rare.”

The reason the Republicans don’t like diversity in schools, the reason they don’t want us to talk about being trans or gay, the reason they don’t want Black history being taught is just one reason, they know when you know someone who is trans, Black, from another country you won’t hate them. They don’t want White children playing with a minority because they might become friends and see through all the lies the Republicans spew.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
South Pacific – Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II  Music By Richard Rodgers