The political climate of America only seems to grow increasingly heated and fervent as time goes on, with the rights of trans people being in the crossfire. And in the midst of this the most prominent issue for a vocal minority is bathrooms, specifically the place of transgender students in public school bathrooms. The topic and discourse surrounding it first peaked in 2016 being dubbed the “The Bathroom Wars” by journals such as Politico, Time Magazine, and Mother Jones. The focus of the discourse has been on public schools as the issue has seen a resurgence in recent years. We see this in the coverage of this topic on social media and news outlets.
This has manifested in legislature at the state-level as, according to Government Reporter, Geoff Mulvihill of AP news:, “At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from using girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public schools. Trans people are being barred in some states from using bathrooms that better align with their gender identity and that has become the focus of the issue. Some students find this harmful for trans students.
Student voices
Sophomore Reece Railsback says, “It affects trans people in their social acceptance. And although there are communities and safe spaces for them, in the general eye of the majority, they’re still alienated.” The Pew Research Center conducted a study in 2022 to find how many Americans approve of legislation like and including bathroom bills. According to former digital producer of Pew Research Center, Carrie Blazina,”Overall, a 64% majority of Americans favor policies that protect transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, housing and public spaces such as restaurants and stores, including 37% who strongly favor them. A much smaller share (10%) oppose or strongly oppose these policies, while 25% neither favor nor oppose them.” While this legislation is put in place to protect students some Bearcats, like many Americans, find themselves indifferent.
Sophomore William Cavender finds himself in this position, “I personally would not care unless they are being weird or make a scene about it,” he said. Regardless of Bearcat’s indifference to the presence of transgender people in their preferred bathroom legislation seeking to prevent such a thing is still in place. What is it that those in state legislature and power believe they are guiding students away from? TAs there is no connection between trans people being welcome into bathrooms and increased violence.
The conclusions of a 2018 UCLA study found, “These results indicate that changes in the average rate of criminal incidents are not related to the passage of GIPANDOs. The limited GIPANDOs provide another source of comparison, and these additional comparisons indicate that clear GIPANDOs are not uniquely related to increases in average rates of criminal incidents.” GIPANDOs being an abbreviation of gender identity inclusive public accommodations nondiscrimination ordinances. One transgender sophomore, who has requested to remain anonymous, says, “ As I mentioned previously there is lots of stigma around trans people, which I think stems from the idea that there are “men“ in women’s restrooms. However, it’s used to fear monger about and demonize trans people. I think they’re using trans people as a political statement rather than a human rights statement.”
