@RealMazen:
What is there to educated on? If people don't want a penis or vagina in the same room as them, they have that right.
Educating on what it means to be transgender. Like, how they feel, how they try to ease their dysphoria, what they can do to make their bodies better reflect their gender etc.
And most of all, that they are people too.
And if you brought up penises and vaginas: did you know that (with enough money), a transwoman can have a vagina and a transman a penis? That works the same "bathroom"-wise as the "real thing".
What about that?
And once again, you have to realize that being transgender isn't written on people's forehead. I've met a transman and a transwoman whom I couldn't even tell were trans because they blended in well.
I seriously doubt most people would realize they share a bathroom with a transgender person. Like, they won't go around flinging their genitals in every direction, so unless you actively try to seek out what tools people have in their pants, this whole thing becomes seriously irrelevant.
@RealMazen:
They're already able to use the bathroom What's being fought for is for them to be able to use the bathroom specifically made for the opposite sex. That is privledge and is not something owed.
What harm does it do when people allow people to go piss wherever they please? Tell me. I'm really curious. What are the downsides? It's such a strange thing to me to comprehend, how people imagine all kinds of hidden dangers while there are none.
Some bring up assault. That such bill would legalize it. Which is false in itself. A man could also assault another man in the man's restroom, and the same is true for vice-versa with women. A man could also go in drag into the women's restroom with intention of assaulting someone there, and it would still be illegal to do that, bill or not.
What are you afraid of, exactly? Public bathrooms are already unpleasant, people go there to quickly relieve themselves and get out as fast as possible because it's not a good place to spend a lot of time in.
@RealMazen:
I am one of the many others who started out with a willingness to hear the trans side of the issue and express empathy and find compromises but were met with loud-talking, name-calling, accusations of bigotry, and other assorted insanity when it was suggested that maybe, just maybe, we should also consider how other people might feel and what valid concerns they might have. Some other responses in this thread are prime examples. I've been so turned off by this whole movement I'm just like "eff your feelings right back".
If your approach was the same as it is now, it's kind of understandable that people reacted that way. Please, be aware that this is a very personal issue for a lot of people and sometimes it's very hard to stay level-headed when one receives so much hate and ungrounded disbelief on a daily basis.
I am a transman, and I have lost my cool some times in the past when trying to defend the notion that I am, in fact, not mentally ill and want no harm. That I just want to be happy.
I go to university, I have a job, I provide for myself. I have to keep in touch with family, friends, and have to constantly improve at uni and at work.
All the while I'm currently working on getting the necessary papers to be able to start physically transitioning. It's draining both financially and emotionally.
I'm tired. Lately it feels difficult to stay afloat, sometimes I fear the waves are getting over my head.
But I fight on. All the while having to deal with my body feeling ever more alien to me simultaneously with taking care of it, no matter how I loathe looking at it.
I'm not alone with my struggles.
But there are a lot of us willing to teach, willing to offer patience even through a barrage of hate and intolerance.
Sometimes… sometimes we snap. Sometimes the pressure is so great, the anger that builds up inside of us cannot dissipate and just erupts. Name-calling and accusations might happen. We become intolerant for a short while.
However, we cool down, regenerate, heal and rest. Then we continue to be teachers, to offer knowledge and understanding.
The notion of transgenderism is a tough one to grasp. It might not come naturally to some to accept it right away. To understand it. We understand that it's hard, heck, it's hard for us even. I cannot describe the horror, the cold feeling in my spine that I felt when I realized I might be transgender. I panicked. I honest to god thought this is the end. I cried, I tried to hide from it, I tried to forget it, I tried to undo it. But I had to come to terms with it. I can imagine some transgender people won't ever accept it, and that thought saddens me deeply. By having our voice heard, by spreading knowledge and tolerance, we try to shine a light for them as well as for humanity as a whole that it's okay to be transgender and it's absolutely not the end of the world. That we can be happy.