President Trump recently issued an attack on transgender rights, revoking previous protection put in place by President Obama. For Americans that support Trump’s action, their reasoning is usually something along the lines of, ‘This is a positive thing because it protects us from men who are sexual predators using these laws to commit sexual assault in women’s bathrooms.’
But fun fact; There are zero reported cases of that ever happening.
In an article published on Mic, Vincent Villano, the director of communications for the National Center for Transgender Equality told the publication via email that there are is no firm data to validate any of those concerns, and that the NCTE has “not heard of a single instance of a transgender person harassing a non-transgender person in a public restroom. Those who claim otherwise have no evidence that this is true and use this notion to prey on the public’s stereotypes and fears about transgender people.”
In fact, states that have laws to protect transgender rights have overwhelmingly stated that they have seen no rise in reported sexual assault cases since passing their transgender rights bills.
There is no data to prove people’s fears and concerns with transgender rights. However, there is data on what eliminating these rights can do to the transgender community, and the tragic effect these actions can have.
In a study published in the Journal of Homosexuality discovered that when someone is denied entry to a school bathroom because they are trans, they are more likely to attempt suicide. A paper published by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law reported that in Washington D.C., 70% of transgender people surveyed reported being denied access, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted in public restrooms.
That’s the issue with reducing basic rights that transgender people need to have; It doesn’t protect anyone. In fact, for the transgender community, it does the opposite. During the time that President Trump is in the White House, it will be more crucial than ever to support and defend the LGBT community and other minority communities from an administration that will continue to take their rights away.
