Transgender bathroom rule needs repealed
The Washington State Human Rights Commission enacted a new rule Dec. 26 allowing transgendered people to use the bathroom designated for the gender they identify with, in public and private facilities. What that means is that a man who believes he’s a woman can use a women’s restroom. It doesn’t matter if the man has completed or started the medical process of gender reassignment, according to a prepared statement from Sen. Doug Ericksen, a Republican lawmaker from Ferndale.
The same goes for a woman who believes she is a man. She can walk into a men’s restroom and use the facilities, according to the commission’s rule.
The rule is designed to protect people who have gender dysphoria (formerly gender identity disorder) from discrimination. While the intention is admirable, the fallout is not. People have the expectation, and rightfully so, to use a public restroom without worrying about who else is there. Children should also be protected from this rule. We think it’s safe to say many parents would not send their little girl into a women’s restroom if there was a man inside dressed as a woman. It opens the door to many challenges. People are not used to seeing men in women’s restrooms and may react in fear and shock.
This is pushing the envelope in a way that it shouldn’t be pushed. Yet, according to the rule, “if another person expresses concern or discomfort about a person who uses a facility that is consistent with the person’s gender identify, the person expressing discomfort should be directed to a separate or gender-neutral facility, if available.”
This doesn’t make sense either. The sentence can be read both ways, to benefit either side of the argument.
The Columbia Basin Herald’s story appeared last week and received a lot of attention on its Facebook page. More than half of the people who commented were women who opposed the rule.
At least two women said they were worried about being raped in restrooms. Another woman said she would sue a company if she was harmed in a public restroom because of the rule.
The rule also includes public schools and requires schools to offer access to a locker room that “corresponds to a student’s gender identify consistently asserted at school.”
“Parents have a right to expect that when their children go to school, the boys will use the boys’ locker room and the girls will use the girls’ locker room,” Sen. Erickson said. “This case offers a powerful example of a state agency overstepping its executive rule-making power. For political reasons the commission overturned a sensible and deeply ingrained cultural tradition without informing the public, telling the Legislature or even issuing a press release.”
We encourage state lawmakers to repeal the rule during the upcoming Legislative Session. It was poorly written, poorly thought out and needs more work to truly accommodate everyone. During this time, we hope that everyone will treat one another with dignity and respect.
— Editorial Board