CBS Poll: Trans students should use facilities of birth sex

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This was the opinion of a pretty clear majority of Americans:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-po ... bathrooms/

1016 people were polled. That's hardly a majority of Americans.

I think the best solution is to probably have more single use family bathrooms which can accommodate transgender as well as the disabled, people with young children, fear of public restrooms, etcetera. Nobody showered at my high school and people tried to be as private as they could while changing, nobody sees anything. I I think that is pretty normal now, I dunno.

One could always use an overflow (wrong word? ) toilet stall, which would mainly end up being used by girls anyway, because they take longer on average to go to the toilet.

I think, though, that the best response to calls for people to use the facilities of their birth sex is for transmen to man up and do so. Seeing a bunch of people who are obviously men using the women's toilets might shock people into rethinking their stance. Of course, they could just demand one bathroom for ciswomen, and another for everyone else...

I don't care which one I use, I just use the one that's least likely to result in an awkward situation/people getting mad.

I'd be happy with a cis-female/other bathroom dichotomy, if everyone was cool with it. Sort people by astrological signs, I honestly don't freaking care, I just have to go to the bathroom, and it sucks constantly worrying about it.

The whole thing is miserable even for adults, I can't imagine the hell school-age transgenders go through.

It's like, okay, I'm presenting female, I either stroll into the male bathroom with a bunch of dudes glaring at me, or into the female bathroom and risk pissing off the dudes if they see me go in, and the less likely, but still possible condition of offending/disturbing the women in the women's bathroom.

Fortunately I have a semi-safe bathroom at work, but most are not so lucky. Especially the school kids.

And, honestly, WTF do guys think goes on in the women's restroom, that anyone would even want to be a voyeur to? As if women are all in there having a pajama party or something. They go in there, they use a stall, they wash their hands, and they leave. Just like the men's room, only without urinals.

cinnabot,

It's not just the guys who object to it; the poll itself makes that clear.

The polls have always made it clear, over the years, that people have wanted many things we'd find horrifying now.

I was just trying to provide some context into what it's like, in the hopes that some people could understand why this is a problem. But if you don't care, you don't care.

As an FtM who doesn't really pass particularly well as either gender at the moment, I feel really awkward in a situation when I am compelled to use a women's restroom (i.e. when I'm afraid of running into someone in the men's restroom who doesn't know that I'm trans, like a coworker). And I have actually been chased out of the women's restroom more than once. It seems like there is just no winning for the trans community.

And there was a time, not so long ago, when people of visible African-continent ancestry would get chased out of both bathrooms, too, and made to use "separate but equal" facilities. Eventually, people will become more educated and tolerant if not accepting of trans people. Public accommodation laws help, but familiarity helps more. The real trick will be convincing those who glean their social power and in some cases, wealth, by persecuting "outsiders" that doing so is wrong. It won't happen directly; it will happen when they are the ones who are publicly shamed for doing so.

My university has several gender-neutral single-person bathrooms. Those seem like the best compromise.