Last week, when I wrote that the transgendered should use
the bathroom for the sex of their genitals, I was wrong. Two friends pointed
out that a transsexual will often dress and look like the sex with which she/he
identifies and to use the bathroom of the other sex would be disruptive. One
friend rightfully worried that there are still enough unenlightened individuals
around that if a transgendered female who has not had surgery uses the men’s
room, she risks getting beat up.
I did note that the problem is easy to fix while giving
people more dignity and privacy: Have unisex bathrooms with stalls that are
actually little rooms. Until that
happens, it is best that transgendered people use the bathroom of the sex with
which they identify, but always in a stall.
I haven’t changed my mind about the rest of the article,
which proposed using genitalia to determine which public shower rooms, sports
teams and scholarships are appropriate for a transgendered person who has not
had surgery. You can see the article at Vox Populi.
We are talking about inherently ambiguous situations which
surgery immediately and profoundly clarifies, certainly for the rest of the world
and perhaps for the transgendered individual as well.
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