I am a cisgender queer woman. Cisgender means your gender is consistent with the sex you were assigned at birth. I was assigned female at birth, and I identify as a woman. My partner identifies as transgender. He was assigned female at birth and lives a masculine gender on a daily basis. The simple act of walking down the street or going to the bathroom in public is a dangerous minefield for him. He is stared at, misgendered and has experienced harassment in public bathrooms. Now he avoids using public bathrooms for fear of being harassed or, worse, physically assaulted. Our public outings are time sensitive so he can use our bathroom at home. No one should live their life in fear of harassment or physical assault. Everyone has the right to be safe and live with dignity, and our values and laws should strive to create that world.
Conservatives in Washington state are currently collecting signatures for Initiative 1515 to take away the right of transgender and gender nonconforming people to use bathrooms at work, school and in public that match the gender they live daily. They claim I-1515 would keep women and children safe from men dressed as women harassing and assaulting women in the women’s bathroom.
For the last 10 years, the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Law has protected transgender and gender nonconforming people’s freedom to use the bathroom that is consistent with the gender they live daily. There has been no reported incidents of bathroom assault or harassment by a transgender person since the law has gone into effect. Men dressed as women attempting to harass or assault cisgender or transgender women are breaking current safety laws and should be reported and held accountable. We all want and deserve to be safe. As a cisgender woman, I-1515 does not increase my safety in bathrooms, but unjustly targets my transgender partner’s safety in public and in bathrooms.
Criminalizing the transgender community will decrease the safety of transgender and gender nonconforming women and children.
Public bathrooms are one of the most common places where transgender people experience hatred, discrimination and violence. Trans and gender nonconforming people of color disproportionately experience violence in bathrooms, at school, at work and in public because of the gender they live daily. Sadly, 14 transgender people have been murdered this year because of their gender and the majority of these victims are people of color.
Anti-transgender initiatives such as the one in Washington state pave the way for increased harassment and violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people. This past year lawmakers introduced 200 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures acaross the country. Fifty of those bills target transgender and gender nonconforming individuals.
The espoused hateful messaging and rhetoric in public discourse directly impacts the safety of the LGBTQ community. The Seattle police reported a 56 percent increase in LGBTQ hate crime in the first half of 2015 compared to 2014. Transgender and gender nonconforming people experience one of the highest levels of hate crimes in the nation, according to LGBTQ studies. This is especially true for homeless transgender adults and youth. The June 12 Orlando Massacre — killing 49 LGBTQ individuals, mostly Latino, and injuring another 53 — is testament to what happens in a society that does not actively fight against homophobia and transphobia.
We all deserve to be safe and treated with fairness. We need solutions that address homophobia, transphobia and sexism as the social diseases they are. Initiatives such as I-1515 create fear and misunderstanding against a group of people who are already marginalized, unsafe and discriminated. This initiative fuels transphobia (the fear and hatred of transgender and gender nonconforming people) and ensures people’s vulnerability to homelessness and unemployment.
Washingtonians must fight for the safety of all our residents with solutions that do not misinform, but enhance justice and fairness. I urge you to decline to sign I-1515.
Debbie Carlsen is the executive director of LGBTQ Allyship, a social and economic justice organization representing more than 2,500 LGBTQ individuals in the Puget Sound area. Allyship works for housing, economic equity and eliminating youth homelessness in the LGBTQ community through education, advocacy, research and community organizing. For more information go to LGBTQAllyship.org.