Transphobia — is it about safety or hatred?

Wednesday, October 27. The United States releases their first passport with an “X” in the gender designation. The backlash is huge. All over social media, the story goes viral and arguments spiral to jumbles of hatred and defence. But who is this really hurting?

TERFs — or trans-exclusionary radical feminists pride themselves on being the beacons of safety for what they call “real women” and the question is, do they really protect others or is it a facade to propel hatred?

Let’s go through the common talking points they have.

One of the biggest points is washrooms — people say transgender people, specifically women shouldn’t be allowed in the washrooms of their gender. On popular debate website debate.org, a commenter said “this is a law that can be easily abused by sexual predators.”. Look. The fact is, people use washrooms as washrooms. The amount of people with ulterior motives are very much outweighed by trans people simply wanting to use a washroom! Of course women feeling uncomfortable are completely valid but as a general overview, this would help more people than it would hurt.

Here’s one of my personal experiences. I have a friend who is my age, in high school with me and she is a transgender woman. She hasn’t medically transitioned but is openly out at school. When she does need to use the washrooms, she is forced to use the one gender neutral washroom in our school. This is because she has negative consequences either way in the mens or the women’s washrooms. In the mens, she doesn’t feel comfortable or safe. She isn’t a man, therefore doesn’t feel she should be in there. When she uses the women’s washrooms, she hears the backlash and hate of people who still see her as a man, if anything a man with wrong intentions for using the women’s washrooms. I know my friend, and she’s a real woman in every way except her assigned gender. Why should she be facing this hate every day when she hasn’t done anything wrong?

Another big point TERFs use is sports. TX HB 25 is a bill that was recently signed in Texas, requiring students in public schools to participate in sports based on biological sex. The reasoning behind this is fairness. The difference in hormones based on biological sex means different levels of strength, agility and more. Honestly, there are so many better alternatives to this that still maintain the fairness of sports while also not being discriminatory.

This again is just a facade to propel hate and discrimination to transgender people who simply just want to live a normal, safe life.

Every move taken to discriminate and segregate trans people has, does and will hurt them. Before you support or take the side of a law or movement that does so, think logically about the amount of people being hurt compared to the amount of people it is “protecting”. “Hate is a choice, being trans is not.”