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Most people take reasonable access to restroom facilities for granted. Transgender people, however, often face the burden of being confronted or questioned about which gender’s restroom they should use. In some countries, the issue may seem obsolete or non-important, but American citizens are in a feud about which bathrooms trans people should be allowed to use, and it’s inspiring legislation aimed at criminalizing those who utilize the ‘wrong’ restrooms.
In North Carolina, for example, Governor Pat McCrory, is doing everything in his power to ensure that his controversial bill, HB2, will be upheld when it comes to law enforcement. On Monday, McCrory announced that his office has set up a 24-hour hotline for individuals to call if they witness someone not abiding by the new law which mandates that men and women must use their respective bathrooms – regardless of the gender they identify with.
The Governor said:
“If you see a woman, who doesn’t look like a woman, using the woman’s restroom, be vigilant, call the hotline, and report that individual. We need our state to unite as one if we’re going to keep our children safe from all the sexual predators and other aberrant behavior that is out there.”
Reportedly, when an individual notices any kind of “gender-suspicious activity” in the men’s or women’s restrooms, they are encouraged to call the new ‘HB2 Offender Hotline.’ The Governor’s office actually encourages citizens to take photographs and report as much detail as possible when calling. With the information gathered from the hotline, they hope to “work closely with local law enforcement agencies to make sure this law is enforced and those who break the law see jail bars.”
Tom Downey, a spokesperson for the Governor’s office told the press:
“We are sending a clear message to all the transsexuals out there; their illegal actions and deviant behavior will no longer be tolerated in the state of North Carolina.”
While many applauded McCrory’s efforts, others, such as Sarah Bradley, have spoken out against the nonsensical hotline. The spokeswoman for Sock It Forward, a group that provides homeless and less fortune individuals with new socks, told ABC News:
“In the history of North Carolina, not one sexually related criminal act has happened in a bathroom by someone who is transgender. No arrests, no convictions, but they still want to make laws, just in case that “one time” ever happens. It’s like making laws outlawing marijuana in the event that someone actually ever dies from it. There were plenty of laws already in place before HB2. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, transgender, or what bathroom you use; if you’re in there longer than 5 minutes after using the restroom, someone is going to call the cops. This new law is about people living in fear, gathering together around their weird ideologies and religious beliefs to create more intolerance and hate in this world, bottom line.”
The issue is serving as another excuse for division among the American people.
Steven Hamilton, a North Carolina resident, relayed his thoughts:
“I don’t want my money, my taxes going towards anything that discriminates against anyone, especially in public bathrooms. I don’t care what a private individual or business does and how hate-filled they want to be, because I can protest and show as much discontent towards them as I want to, but when it comes to my money, those places better be free for all to use, no matter what sexual identity a person may identify with.
Also, I have an eight-year-old daughter who I don’t like using the restroom by herself. What am I supposed to do now? Take her into the women’s bathroom and hope I don’t get arrested or take her with me into the men’s restroom and hope the cops don’t get called? And what if the cops show up and I don’t have my birth certificate on me? Would I actually go to jail? All of this is completely insane.”
Perhaps a thought-provoking segment by John Oliver will dissolve some of the bigotry surrounding the issue:
Transgender people are very close to being treated like sex offenders in the U.S., and this form of barbaric harassment is not deserved.
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