Transgender Accommodations?

Transgender Accommodations?

By: Abriana Cantaffa

The dictionary definition states that transgender is “relating to, or being a person who identifies or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one that corresponds from the person’s sex at birth.” [1]

In a Fayetteville elementary school there was a six year old student who was identifying himself as the opposite sex. He began wearing girls’ clothing, using the female bathroom and using a girl name. A board member said that parents of children in the class became upset when they heard rumors that the child was given privileges. The member, Michael Boose, said “We'll enact whatever policy needs to make sure that this child is welcome in the schools, not bullied, not ridiculed, But also at the same time we can't give the child his own bathroom, there can't be special dressing areas or something just for that child.” [2]

http://www.thefix.com/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/transgender.jpg?itok=NQQTNhdX

In some places it is actually against the law to discriminate transgender people. No matter if you are the transgender, if you are friends with, a relative of, or work with a transgender person it is against the law to treat you unfairly. If you are male to female transgender people are to treat you as if you were a woman. If you are female to male transgender people are to treat you as if you were a man. [3]

Transgender people, no matter child or adult should not have to stand in front of bathroom doors struggling with which one they should use. In the workplace there are no laws that require employers to construct facilities for transgender employees/people. [4] Maybe there need to be more single user gender neutral bathrooms, like the family bathrooms in public places. Even in schools. They should not be considered “special accommodations.” When we use public bathrooms there are makeshift walls to separate one person from another, and they have doors. In the women’s bathroom anyways. I do not use the male bathroom so I cannot as if I do. We are given semi-privacy to do our business so that we are comfortable in doing so. So why shouldn’t transgender people have that same right.

http://blueboat.blogs.uua.org/files/2013/02/Transgender_symbol_HiRes.jpg

I do not believe that a child should be pushed to use a bathroom of the gender they were born but do not identify as and I do not believe that a child should be ridiculed for using the bathroom of the gender that they do identify as.

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[1]Merriam-Webster  Transgender definition,  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transgender

[2] Khrais, Remma. “First-Grade Transgender Student Incites Fayetteville Leaders To Talk School Accommodations”. http://wunc.org/post/first-grade-transgender-student-incites-fayetteville-leaders-talk-school-accommodations

[3] “Transgender Discrimination” http://www.antidiscrimination.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/adb/adb1_antidiscriminationlaw/adb1_types/adb1_transgender.html

[4] “Restroom Access for Transgender Employees” https://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/restroom-access-for-transgender-employees