It's because I ache for the mom or dad of a transgender child...and then I ache for the journey that child will make.
Feels cowardly not to name that ache on their behalf.
Especially because the current struggle is about such a basic human need.
Being able to pee.
When I read some of the things people say, my mind and heart immediately go to those who are being denied that freedom because of fear that comes from a lack of understanding of WHO and WHOSE they are. I FEEL deeply for them and I wonder how many people who sign petitions against them even think about the fact that these are PEOPLE who have names and families and feelings.
Just like you and me and all of us.
And sometimes they just need to pee.
I remember black-only bathrooms in the South. I remember some people being certain that if we allowed black people into the same bathroom to PEE, something awful would happen even though in MANY states and cities where integrated bathrooms had existed for years, there was no statistical evidence that anything HAD happened.
Nonetheless, these folk thought something awful would happen and it DID....
....but it wasn't because black people were peeing in the same bathroom.
It was because some fear-FULL white people wanted to deny them the right to PEE!
Now, I am seeing the same thing happen again. Some people are certain that if we allow transgender folk into the same bathroom to PEE, something awful will happen.
What these folk don't realize, I guess, is that there are more than 200 municipalities and 17 states that already have nondiscrimination laws protecting transgender peoples access to facilities AND that these laws have been in place for decades. (wv gazette)
There has been NO statistical evidence of ANY bathroom assaults. From transgender folk as well as predators that some people are saying will suddenly appear. I sincerely doubt that a predator has been sitting waiting for this transgender issue to emerge so that they could finally pounce! ANY man since the beginning of public bathrooms could dress up as a woman (and vice versa) and simply hide in a stall. The transgender piece doesn't change that AT ALL!
In other words, in the places where these laws exist, nothing awful has happened. Most likely, one didn't even know a transgender person was peeing next to them.
But, now that it's KNOWN, something awful is going to happen?
Once again, like years ago, I am afraid that it WILL...
...and it won't be because a transgender person is peeing in a bathroom.
It will be because fear-FULL folk want to deny others the right to PEE!
I understand fear, especially of what we don't understand but understanding CAN come if we so choose.
If you are fear-FULL, think about reaching beyond that fear long enough to imagine how you would feel if that were your child...just step out of your fear long enough to climb into the fear they must feel.
Maybe that would be one small but significant step toward what I wished when I was a kid down south...
...and what I still wish as a great-granny here and now.
That we all could just...
...pee and let pee!
PS
If you want to see where the nudge began, Google '20/20-A Story of Transgender Children'.
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