People are so worried about what trans women and girls will do to cisgender women and girls in women's restrooms, but I'm more worried about what cisgender men and boys will do to trans women and girls in men's restrooms.
"Trans bathroom panic" is here again. Target officially released an article on April 19, 2016 titled Continuing to Stand for Inclusivity, within which they state plainly, "we stand for equality and equity." And that's really the core of the importance of transgender individuals using whatever bathroom they feel the most comfortable in.
I am a trans guy. I've been living openly trans for a few years now, out to friends and some family. I don't exactly "pass" -- meaning I don't look like a cisgender male, and I don't exactly match cisgender standards in appearance, style or expression. I'm fairly androgynous. In public I have been called a mix of "sir", "lady" and "miss." Using the bathroom is a catalyst for anxiety. I'm too nervous to use the men's restroom, out of fear for my safety and fear of an anxiety attack, and using the women's restroom is uncomfortable, discouraging, awkward -- like an ill fitting suit.
At least going into the women's restroom I kind of feel like I'm less likely to be harassed or harmed further in any way. And so far in my life, nothing has happened to me when in a women's bathroom. I get weird, lingering glances sometimes, but not much else.
However, the one time I did use a men's restroom and someone else was present -- a cisgender man -- I was met with scrutiny. I was told I was in the wrong restroom, just by looking at me. He proceeded to scoff and explain where the women's restroom was, while washing his hands.
Every other time I've built up the courage inside to use a men's restroom, thankfully there was literally no one else there, in any stall, at any urinal. Lucky every time. I had the comfort of using a restroom that I felt I belonged in, that matched my gender identity and expression, and I was alone.
The arguments against transgender individuals using a bathroom of their choosing that matches their gender identity are completely erroneous. It's plainly bigotry, masked by unfounded and phony concerns for "wives and daughters." And imagine that, "wives and daughters." What we have there is transmisogyny, defined literally as "discrimination or prejudice against transgender women." Wikipedia's Transmisogyny entry contains the following: "the intersection of transphobia and misogyny" and "the unique discrimination faced by trans women because of "the assumption that femaleness and femininity are inferior to, and exist primarily for the benefit of, maleness and masculinity", and the way that transphobia intensifies the misogyny faced by trans women."
Ultimately any "bathroom bill" will at one point or another affect people who are trans, gender-non conforming, non-binary, etc. But there is largely a transmisogynistic basis in almost every abhorrent comment I've seen against Target's particular public statement.
"I also am extremely concerned for the safety of children in Target dressing rooms and rest rooms because of men being allowed in the women's dressing rooms & rest rooms," a woman comments. "I will take my business somewhere else, cut up the red card and Im disgusted at your decision to do this with the regards of letting men into women's restrooms throughout your stores in the USA and else where," comments another, a cisgender man.
As you can see, it is transmisogyny. Comments like these are exclusively targeting trans women and completely erasing their identity and their womanhood. I'm sure if I scrolled further, somewhere amongst all of this there's a comment about trans men fueled by equal bigotry and transphobia, but the majority of this is largely against trans women. It is transmisogyny. All of these cisgender people are worried about their wives, their daughters, their sisters, but they don't care about trans women who are wives, daughters, sisters, etc. Simply because they don't see those women as women.
In conclusion, "trans bathroom panic" (as it has been coined) is a harmful, bigoted phenomena and it is anti-trans. Transness is not a threat. Something that I guess many of these people are not thinking of is that a bathroom is not the first and only place a man (an actual man, not a trans woman) is going to assault or harm women and girls.
What about the one in five women that are raped at some point in their lives? What about victim blaming? What about the fact that trans women are 1.8 times more likely to experience sexual violence when compared with other survivors?
The reality is that people are making excuses for their bigotry, for their anti-trans feelings, for their transphobia, for their hatred of trans women. If people really cared more about women and girls, they wouldn't treat them like they're inferior and useless. If people really cared more about women and girls, maybe they wouldn't deem them lesser and below their peers of the opposite sex in every corner of their lives -- their jobs, their schools, their homes. If people really cared more about women and girls, they wouldn't mock and humiliate them every chance they get. And... maybe if people cared more about trans people, they wouldn't have already killed 11 in 2016-7 of which were transgender women.
People are so worried about what trans women and girls will do to cisgender women and girls in women's restrooms, but I'm more worried about what cisgender men and boys will do to trans women and girls in men's restrooms.
Trans lives matter. Trans women's lives matter. Black trans women's lives matter.