CREATING a lot of buzz in the United States these days is a law in North Carolina which forbids transgender people from using public restrooms that comport with their gender identity. If a person is born male, then he should go to the boys’ bathroom, and conversely, those born female should go to the girls’ bathroom.
This law does not factor in how transgenders feel about themselves and their gender identities. They may be born male but as they were growing up, they knew they were female deep inside. Some are born female, but they do not identify with that gender, contending that all their life, they know they are male. This is why they dress up, act, think and feel, in accordance with the gender they identify with, not with the gender stated in their birth certificates.
This makes the North Carolina law very contentious, because according to transgenders themselves and their advocates, it violates anti-discrimination laws. They explain that making a transgender use the bathroom that does not match with the gender they identify with exposes them to risks of being bullied and harrassed, not to mention the traumatic experience they go through being in a bathroom or locker room designated for the opposite sex.
In support of the civil rights of transgenders, the Education and Justice departments of the Obama Administration issued a directive that mandates ALL public schools (from kindergarten to grade 12) all over the U.S. to allow transgenders use the bathroom that match their gender identity, or risk losing funding from the federal government.
Defending the directive, Pres. Barack Obama said in an interview: “We’re talking about kids, and anybody who’s been in school, been in high school, who’s been a parent, I think should realize that kids who are sometimes in the minority — kids who have a different sexual orientation or are transgender — are subject to a lot of bullying, potentially they are vulnerable.”
Obama added, “I think that it is part of our obligation as a society to make sure that everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved, and that they’re protected and that their dignity is affirmed.”
The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” asked its viewers in an online poll if they agree with the Obama administration’s directive. A big majority of those who voted — 73 percent — disagreed.
What do you think about this directive?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
