“Bathroom Bills” and Sexual Assault: Unfounded Fears
Transgender woman Michelle Martinez faces up to seventy years in prison after sexually assaulting a young girl in a bathroom. This shocking crime in 2017 confirmed the fears of those who want to keep transgender women out of women’s restrooms. Just one year earlier, the North Carolina House passed a bill which prohibited individuals from using restrooms and changing rooms that did not correspond to the sex on their birth certificates. This sparked a national conversation about the rights of both transgender people and those who are not. In response, the United States Congress passed the Federal Equality Act, updating the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making transgender individuals a protected …show more content…
It was this public acknowledgment that created a furor. Backlash ensued, leading to calls for boycotts. Organizations spoke out against transgender rights and implored local governments keep women and children safe. Some argue that the presence of transgender women in the restroom is a threat to the safety and dignity of biological women. Others are fearful and interpret the law to mean men can, and will, pose as women to gain access to restrooms for nefarious purposes.. Incidents of public restroom assaults and voyeurism should command our attention, but are these crimes increasing, as feared by some? Despite fears to the contrary, there is no basis for discrimination against transgender women in public restrooms because most sexual assault is committed by someone known to the victim, most assault occurs in places other than restrooms, and states that allow transgender individuals in women’s restrooms have …show more content…
To date, eighteen states have laws protecting transgender people from discrimination with several of the laws over a decade old. Website Media Matters, in an article debunking the assertion that transgender people are to be feared, interviewed human rights experts, law enforcement personnel, and victims’ advocacy leaders from twelve states. None of them have seen any sexual assault cases related to non-discrimination laws, and do not see any factual basis for the fears some have expressed. The state of Hawaii clarified its anti-discrimination law in 2006, adding gender-identity to the language denoting protected classes. William Hoshijo, the executive director of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, stated in the interview from 2014, “. . . the protection against discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sex, including gender identity or expression, has not resulted in increase sexual assault or rape in women's restrooms. The HCRC is not aware of any incidents of sexual assault or rape causally related or attributed to the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression” (Hoshijo). Similar findings have been reported by the other states with gender-identity laws in effect well before 2016 when this issue came to the
Transgender woman Michelle Martinez faces up to seventy years in prison after sexually assaulting a young girl in a bathroom. This shocking crime in 2017 confirmed the fears of those who want to keep transgender women out of women’s restrooms. Just one year earlier, the North Carolina House passed a bill which prohibited individuals from using restrooms and changing rooms that did not correspond to the sex on their birth certificates. This sparked a national conversation about the rights of both transgender people and those who are not. In response, the United States Congress passed the Federal Equality Act, updating the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making transgender individuals a protected …show more content…
It was this public acknowledgment that created a furor. Backlash ensued, leading to calls for boycotts. Organizations spoke out against transgender rights and implored local governments keep women and children safe. Some argue that the presence of transgender women in the restroom is a threat to the safety and dignity of biological women. Others are fearful and interpret the law to mean men can, and will, pose as women to gain access to restrooms for nefarious purposes.. Incidents of public restroom assaults and voyeurism should command our attention, but are these crimes increasing, as feared by some? Despite fears to the contrary, there is no basis for discrimination against transgender women in public restrooms because most sexual assault is committed by someone known to the victim, most assault occurs in places other than restrooms, and states that allow transgender individuals in women’s restrooms have …show more content…
To date, eighteen states have laws protecting transgender people from discrimination with several of the laws over a decade old. Website Media Matters, in an article debunking the assertion that transgender people are to be feared, interviewed human rights experts, law enforcement personnel, and victims’ advocacy leaders from twelve states. None of them have seen any sexual assault cases related to non-discrimination laws, and do not see any factual basis for the fears some have expressed. The state of Hawaii clarified its anti-discrimination law in 2006, adding gender-identity to the language denoting protected classes. William Hoshijo, the executive director of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, stated in the interview from 2014, “. . . the protection against discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sex, including gender identity or expression, has not resulted in increase sexual assault or rape in women's restrooms. The HCRC is not aware of any incidents of sexual assault or rape causally related or attributed to the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression” (Hoshijo). Similar findings have been reported by the other states with gender-identity laws in effect well before 2016 when this issue came to the