Transgender Bathroom Debate.

Over the past few weeks, I have been working on a presentation for my Human Communications class regarding the Transgender Bathroom Debate going on currently in our society. Although I cannot say that I am not part of the LGBTQ community, I can honestly say that I do support the community and sympathize for their issues. Through my research and time spent looking into the matter at hand, I found a lot of information that originated right here in North Carolina regarding the Bathroom Bill.

We go through our daily lives remembering historical discrimination such as the segregation era, the holocaust, and the anti-Japanese sentiment. We know how awful these times were and how awful people were treated, but we don't realize that discrimination is still going on today. One of the major groups of being being discriminated today is the transgender community. They have to go through job loss due to bias, eviction due to bias, school bullying/harassment so bad the respondent had to drop out, physical assault due to bias, etc. On top of all that, they have been presented with another issue: where they will go to the bathroom in public.

When I was in high school, I was using the restroom when a transgender individual walked into the girls bathroom. Me, being the accepting person I am, continued to wash my hands and walk out. The other girl in the bathroom started screaming, crying, and carrying on about how SHE felt violated. I then realized how prominent this matter really was and became interested in it.

Back in 2016, North Carolina proposed the "bathroom bill" which stated that transgenders had to use the public restroom facility that was affiliated with the gender on their birth certificate. The only way to change the gender on your birth certificate is to undergo permanent sexual re-assignment surgery that costs anywhere from $17,000-$20,000. Proponents of the bill identify the need to protect public safety by mandating that individuals use the facility that corresponds with their biological sex. Although this bill was obviously supported by enough people to make it major legislature, many powerful people did not support it. The NBA relocated it's All-Star game, major companies like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Dow Chemical demanded a repeal. Forbes estimated the state of North Carolina suffered $630 million in losses.

On March 30, 2017, the legislature repealed the bathroom bill, removing the restrictions on restroom use by transgender individuals.

Read more about the Bathroom Bill here.