Obama to schools: let transgender kids use the bathroom matching their gender

Over at McSweeney’s an elegant solution* has been proposed: a genital-operated bathroom door locking mechanism.

*Obviously a joke since a solution is only needed when there’s a problem.

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I don’t think anyone is eager to bring the festival portapotty experience into the wider regular world.

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*Fixed silly headline mistake

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Sounds like a typical Tuesday to me.

I think there is a good rebuttal:

It still won’t be private no matter the onlookers gender. I heard the governor of NC make the same argument for showers. The whole argument boils down to having two classes of privacy depending on the onlookers identity.

Of course for bathroom design standpoint nothing beats a dedicated toilet and sink.

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I’ve had this argument before! They are more interesting!. :smiley:

Trash cans and scrubs.

I don’t know if I could answer many of your questions - I didn’t figure out I’m non-binary until I was in my 40’s, but the resources that immediately come to my mind are a few web comics. I’ve used these for discussions in queer studies and sociology classes and found that they really helped me explain some of the concepts to cis people.

Assigned Male by Sophie Labelle seems particularly appropriate, as the comic touches on a lot of issues affecting trans* (and LGBTQ+) children. It’s not really teen focused, but I think it’s still very useful and would recommend it to any parents asking for resources.

Robot Hugs is not exclusively about gender identity and does contain some NSFW content, but I’ve found quite a bit of discussion material there and can see lots that would probably be useful for getting some perspective.

Rooster Tails “… is a weekly autobio webcomic exploring the life of a geeky transguy transitioning in New Zealand.” Often some of the topics are a bit specific to New Zealand, but most of it is fairly universal.

Kimchi Cuddles is mostly about polyamory, but Tikva does has a number of non-binary characters and often touches on their issues in important ways. Such as a recent comic where she talks about “protecting” children in bathrooms.

None come immediately to my mind, but let me check with one of my partners. They’re a paraprofessional youth services librarian and would know far more about PG13 movies than I do!

Honestly, I wish I had known much sooner. I’ve been very comfortable with being bisexual (now pansexual) for over 25 years, but I’m still very hesitant to talk about being genderqueer, even in a space where I’m almost positive I’ll be accepted.

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OHMIGOD! (shivers in pure terror)

The restrooms at my work are horrendous (and apparently the Ladie’s loo is worse than the Gents), and knowing what I see on the inside, I use a paper towel to open the door (and thoughtfully, there’s a trash can right near the door).

I’d find myself using the bushes outside to relieve myself if I had to open doors with my dong that others had also (ahem) “occupied”…

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First we chop off all the hands.

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I’ve yet to hear a rationale explanation from a conservative as to why gendered bathrooms need exist at elementary (K-6) schools.

I get their explanation for pubescent kids. I might disagree with it, but I at least understand it. Pre-pubescent children on the other hand are essentially sexless.

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A rational (to a conservative) explanation might be that shame about your body can’t start too soon.

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Just do it the American Way: Declare a war on bathrooms! Shoot the freaks with drones! Won’t someone think of the children, for Jesus sake?

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AKA Obama Toilets.

Unfortunately I foresee that some folks will very intentionally dirty up every toilet as some kind of petty “revenge” scheme.

and also votes. As long as they can keep people emotionally engaged, voting is the “only” thing they can do to fight back, which continues the mental control and income stream that manipulators currently enjoy.

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Which bathroom/locker room do you think intersex people should use?

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Honestly, the resources kind of shift, but just googling “transgender 101” and “teen resources” will find you a lot. I’m old and stodgy, and find most of my trans folks on tumblr (hit and miss, but a lot of great trans folks with blogs there.), Youtube for transition vlogs, and Facebook has a lot of unadvertised FTM communities per state. I can’t speak to the transfeminine folks because that’s not me.

If you are looking for genderqueer or nonbinary areas, use those two terms as keywords. I find those communities to be super super inclusive, and helpful for nonbinary folks, or folks just feeling their way through it.

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Yeah, the weirdest thing about this whole debate to me is that “trans people need to use the bathroom” isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. It’s like the neoconservative crowd just heard about trans people this year and decided that they represented the greatest threat to Decent Americans since those Satanic Feminist Socialist Atheists from Al Qaeda invented abortion.

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It’s probably down to South Park covering it…

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I was thinking maybe all the Netflix viewers who saw Orange is the New Black or Transparent and took away the wrong message about tolerance and inclusivity.

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