Which Bathroom Should She Use?

This is AJ, my beautiful, extraordinary, vivacious (‪#‎trans‬) girl who is afraid to use public bathrooms alone because she knows This is AJ, my beautiful, extraordinary, vivacious (‪#‎trans‬) girl who is afraid to use public bathrooms alone because she knows some people don’t want her there. She has a reason to be nervous.

There’s a local news story bringing out the haters because 2 trans girls at a school are using the girls’ restroom. Cue “outraged” parents crying about the danger of perverts lurking around their precious little girls.

I shared this photo with one commenter on a tv station’s FB story and asked him two questions:

1. What danger would she pose to his daughter?

2. What bathroom does he *honestly* believe she could use safely?

He quickly felt the need to end the conversation, without answering the questions but instead saying that “they wouldn’t be harassed if they used the right bathroom.”

Well, SHE does use the right bathroom. It’s the one for girls. And if she’s nervous about using it when she looks like this, imagine the sheer terror she would feel walking into a men’s room alone. This is why defeating these new “bathroom bills” matters. A little personal discomfort based on ignorance does not trump the need for safety from the very real threat of assault and rape that trans people face in restrooms.