Day 410 – Transgender Equality

The past week has flown by. Between classes and my new internship I really haven’t had the time or energy to think about posting. My internship is going well and I am enjoying myself. I get to park in a parking garage and walk through a giant office complex to get to our work space, it makes me feel all important. It is quite a stark contrast to working on the farm.

Yesterday I emailed the woman who owns the company and told her that I was transgendered. This morning I received an email from her saying that she had no issue with my being trans and that she actually has several close friends who are transgendered. I am relieved and happy that more and more people are becoming familiar with and accepting of transgendered individuals. If you want to check out some of the jewelry I will be making the company is called We Dream In Colour, the picture above is of some of their amazonite necklaces. Who knows, if you buy something maybe it will be something I worked on. 😉

I have noticed that It is much easier to cry now than it was before I started hormones. I was watching an adorable anime about a wolf and a lamb who become friends and at the end I just started bawling. I hadn’t cried like that since I was a little kid. My skin tends to get dry a lot more than it used to, it is incredibly soft but I need to make sure I use a moisturizer or else it can begin to itch.

It has been 2 or 3 weeks since I had my last electrolysis appointment and my facial hair is growing noticeably faster. I am having to shave every 1 or 2 days to keep up with the stubble and it is a little disappointing that my reduction isn’t as noticeable after stopping treatment. It seems I am not as far along as I had hoped, but that is something I need to talk to my electrologist about.

Something that recently came up in discussion at my university’s lgbt group was the topic of the Massachusetts transgender equal rights bill. Often referred to as the bathroom bill. Up until this point I have steered clear of political topics but today I am going to give my opinion on the bill.

Bill H.502, An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights, focuses on amending previous anti-discrimination laws to include transgender individuals and prevent discrimination based on gender expression and identity.

You can read the actual text of the bill here on the Massachusetts legislature website.

The part of the bill that has been the center of attention is section 18 which states the following:

SECTION 18. Said section 92A of said chapter 272, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting the following sentence at the end of the second paragraph:- 

Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or any other special or general law to the contrary, all otherwise lawfully sex-segregated facilities, accommodations, resorts  and amusements shall grant persons admission to and the full enjoyment of such facilities, accommodations, resorts and amusements consistent with their gender identity or expression.

You may not understand the legal language of this section but it basically grants transgendered individuals access to the private facilities of the gender they identify as. In other words, a male to female person would have the right to use a woman’s restroom, locker room, or any other female-only facility. The opposite goes for female to males.

The primary argument of those who oppose this bill is that it would allow men who were not transgendered to dress in feminine attire and enter the women’s restroom, shower, or locker room with the intent of harming the women or children inside.

I wholeheartedly agree that we should consider the safety of biological woman and children, but this bill will make it no easier for predators to enter the women’s room than it already is. As it is now, should a male predator wish to enter the women’s restroom with the intent of harming others, no amount of legislation would deter them from entering. Nothing is stopping them from dawning female clothes and using the women’s room under current legislation, so why would giving protection to transgender people have any effect on the likelyhood that a non-transgender male would enter the women’s room with ill intent? Furthermore, granting protection to transgender individuals would give no protection to predators in a court of law because any privilege they had would be irrelevant upon violating another persons rights.

The reason why section 18 is in the bill is that some transgender people are being forced to use the bathroom of their birth sex in public or in the workplace. This can be extremely embarrassing and traumatizing for the individual. If a person identifies as female, takes hormones to change the chemistry of their body, dresses in a female manner, and looks completely female, does it make sense to force them to enter the men’s room to go to the bathroom? That would expose them to an unnecessary amount of danger and undoubtedly cause more disruption of the peace. If you were to enter the men’s restroom and see a person that looked completely female, how would you react? would you continue on with your own business thinking nothing of it? Or would you feel uncomfortable and potentially question them on why they are in the men’s room. Likewise, if a predator were to enter the men’s room and see a transgendered female, what are the chances that he would potentially attack her?

I think the reality of the situation is pretty clear in that this bill should be passed in one form or another, even if section 18 needs to be revised to discourage abuse of the law. The reason why I am talking about the bill is that I recently emailed one of my state representatives with a brief message stating that I wanted his support in passing the bill. I received a sizable email detailing his stance on the matter in which he cited the common argument that it could endanger women and children. In response to his email, I composed a message detailing my stance on the issue and included a variation of the points I’ve stated here. I went on to profess a desire to personally meet with him to discuss the matter of transgender rights and to gain a better understanding of each other’s standpoints.

Whether or not he actually considers meeting to discuss the issue, I hope that my argument will have some impact on him.

I think that is enough political talk for one day,
Have a good evening!

Abbey