by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
We're very clearly under attack.
Buoyed by the Trump victory and control of all branches of the government — and in spite of the disastrous effect House Bill 2 has had on North Carolina and their former Gov. Pat McCrory (R) — states have been rushing to introduce anti-transgender laws. Many of the bills introduced have been built on North Carolina's, while also taking on new tactics, designed to further marginalize trans people.
After several months of work, Texas decided to go big. Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick (R) filing Senate Bill 6, dubbed it the Texas Privacy Act. It, of course, does nothing for the privacy of transgender people in restrooms. Rather, transgender women — it should be noted that there is specific language in the bill, meaning that trans men will be allowed to use appropriate facilities — will be barred from using restrooms, locker/dressing rooms, and showers in public buildings, schools and universities. It also allows private businesses to do the same if they so wish. Like many other bills, this essentially "deputizes" private citizens, asking them to report violations to the state, so that the Texas Attorney General can impose penalties on locations that are not following SB6.
In Virginia, State Delegate Bob Marshall (R) has introduced his own bill, House Bill 1612. Picking up on Texas' language by naming it the Physical Privacy Act. As well as prohibitions against restroom use, it also includes a requirement for schools to contact parents or guardians if a student requests to be treated as a member of a gender other than their birth gender.
It's a Democrat taking the lead in Kentucky, with State Rep. Rick Nelson (D). His bill, House Bill 106, will require public buildings, schools and university restrooms to be "used by persons based on their biological sex." Nelson also filed a "right of conscience" bill the same day, which would allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT customers due to their religious beliefs.
Washington is pushing House Bill 1011. It covers the same basic ground as the others, though specifying that gender-specific facilities be disallowed to people with "genitalia of a different gender from that for which the facility is segregated." It is not quite clear how such genitalia would be determined within these facilities.
What many of these bills do is require applying the gender on one's birth certificate, a document that few carry in their wallet, and in some cases cannot be altered. What's more, Virginia's HB 1612 specifies that sex is defined by one's "original birth certificate," meaning that even those who have changed all their paperwork and even their physical characteristics would still face discrimination in the stalls.
With this in mind, let's note a bill that was recently shot down out of Indiana. State Rep. Bruce Borders (R) penned House Bill 1361. It would have barred transgender people in the state to make changes to the gender on their birth certificates. State Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer (R) blocked it.
While these bills do indeed, on the surface, work to prevent us from using appropriate facilities, there is so much more to it. If you reduce us to our genitals, or our birth certificates, or what have you, you've taken a step towards dehumanizing us and delegitimizing our identities. If you're making a barrier out of a birth certificate, then making it impossible to update or augment it, then you've made it clear that we can *never* have equal treatment under the law, and that our identity will be determined by your religion and morals.
These are only the first bills, and make no mistake – we will see these spread through additional states and likely even at the Federal level. With G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board — a case involving the rights of transgender student Gavin Grimm to use appropriate facilities in Virginia — heading for the Supreme Court, the issue of transgender public accommodation rights is only going to get bigger. We are the center of the culture war now — whether we wish to be or not — and our very right to exist is on the line.
Barring a nuclear hellscape, worldwide economic collapse, or other global calamity — and with the incoming President, I am not ruling out any of the above — we are going to be one of the big hot button issues for 2017 and beyond.
They want to legislate us out of existence, falsely assuming that if they simply make our lives hellish enough, we'll fall in line and be good little men or women living in our birth genders. It's the same attitude they have used against practically every other minority. It is simply our turn, I suppose.
We're not a "fad" like many presume, but our visibility has opened the doors for many others who may not have felt they could explore options for their own gender identity or expression. We've reached a size where we are visible, where we cannot easily be ignored nor pushed aside, so now — like so many other groups — we have to face an onslaught of lawmakers attempting to use their power to drive us away. This is unacceptable.
In the last several years, we have seen scores of bathroom bills come and go, and few have had any staying power. In spite of the slight of hand attempted by the North Carolina legislature, the state's new Governor, Roy Cooper (D), has made it a priority to repeal HB 2. Many of the "bathroom bills" mentioned above will likely not make it through their legislatures and to their Governor's desk, and fewer still will pass that hurdle. Even if they do become law, we and our allies will stand against them.
We're under attack, but still we rise.
