Transgender Day of Visibility at the Capitol

Tuesday, March 31, 2015 - Today I went to the Capitol as a cis-ally for Transgender Day of Visibility.  Through Equality Texas, Caomhán Ó Raghallaigh organized a lobbying-type event where transgender people spoke directly to members of Congress about how House Bills 1747, 1748, 2801, and 2802 would affect their daily lives.  I was there as a quiet supporter, agreeing with my group without taking the spotlight away from them.

My group consisted of four transwomen - Claire, Noel, Anna, and Kayleigh - plus myself.  We were scheduled to visit the staff members of five friendly, liberal members of Congress to give them some ammunition to fight these discriminatory House Bills while they are still in committee.  We hoped that by telling personal, compelling stories about how these bills affect real-life people, our supporters in Congress would be able to shut the bills down before they went to public hearings.

Claire, a lawyer by training, had some serious ammunition to lobby against these bills.  She reminded the staff members that these bills were making it criminal for someone to be who they were in a space designated for people to do a common purpose (use the restroom) while most legislation requires someone to have criminal intent or have conducted a criminal act before they are prosecuted.  She also reminded the staff members that studies show that transgender people are always the victims of violence, rather than the perpetrators of violence.  She argued that these bills assume that transgender people are using the "wrong" restrooms because they are intending to cause harm to the cis-citizens in that restroom.  However, should a transgender person use the bathroom associated with their assigned gender, rather than their gender identity, they would most certainly become victims of violence.  Transwomen presenting as female, she argued, would not be received well in a men's bathroom.  Claire mentioned that in November, Transgender Day of Rememberance remembers all of the transgender people who were brutally murdered during the year because of their identities.  Last year, 300 transgender people were murdered, 10% of whom are still unidentified because of the severity of their injuries.  This, she argued, goes to show that transgender people are the victims of violence, not the perpetrators, making these bills especially dangerous to an already vulnerable population.

Both Claire and Kayleigh shared personal stories about being discriminated against for their gender identity in public restroom spaces.  Kayleigh was bra shopping when the attendant told her she wasn't allowed to use the fitting rooms, and Claire was using a public restroom when a man entered, did a double take, and decided to leave.  Though the incidences were technically small, they were each caused a huge amount of pain from not being recognized and accepted for who they are.

The new legislation, they both argued, would make public spaces even more unsafe for transgender people.  Transgender women already have high rates of dehydration, kidney infections, and urinary tract infections (UTIs) from trying to avoid using public restrooms.  A study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that 70% of transgender and gender non-conforming people in Washington DC have been denied access, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted in public restrooms, showing that these spaces are already unsafe.

Though the staff we talked to at the Capitol today were all in favor of abolishing these bills and supporting their transgender constituents, I am afraid that not all of the legislators would have been so welcoming had we walked into their offices.  As an ally, I was noticing the stares my group received as we walked down the busy halls of the Texas Capitol, though nobody said anything outright.  Also, though we were at the Capitol for several hours, I noticed that none of my group members ever mentioned having to use the bathroom.