Obama, to a mixed response, previously released guidelines requiring public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom most aligning with their gender identity. These guidelines, after being essentially put on pause due to conservative concerns, were tossed out by Trump recently. The article gives a refresher on what it means to be transgender, providing conservative concerns as well as an onslaught of accounts from actual trans people.
This article, while providing a somewhat limited definition of what it means to be transgender (neglecting to mention the existence of nonbinary individuals), gives a visibly liberal account of responses to restrictions on which bathrooms transgender individuals are allowed to use.
As a transgender person, I would like to say that going to the bathroom is extremely stressful. In the women's room I receive glares or long stares, and in the men's room I run the risk of being physically or verbally assaulted. Nongendered restrooms are an ellusive haven.
Conservatives tend to argue that letting trans people pee in peace will allow predators to pretend to be trans so as to assault women- but couldn't they do that anyway? And should trans women really be forced to use the men's room, where they are often assaulted physically, sexually, and verbally?
On a lighter note, I look forward to the attention that Trump's move will bring to transgender rights. Sometimes we have to step back so that we have more room to leap forward. But that doesn't make this a good thing.
Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/23/transgender-what-does-mean-after-trump-rolls-back-protections-explainer/98293820/
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