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The Rider Online | Legacy HS Student Media

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Opinion: Anti-Transgender Bathrooms

Staffer Anna Jordan expresses her resentment to the new transgender bathroom bills implemented by President Obama and his administration. (Photo used with permission via sandiegouniontribune.com)
Staffer Anna Jordan expresses her resentment to the new transgender bathroom bills implemented by President Obama and his administration. (Photo used with permission via sandiegouniontribune.com)

It seems anytime I turn on the news there tends to be something about transgender identity and their beliefs being pushed on everyone around them. A group of people such as liberals say we should support them and be proud of them for being brave. However, I do not agree with that. I believe this was a choice transgenders made and should not expect everyone to support their choice.

In August of 2015, Target announced they were changing the toy aisles to no longer categorized toys by gender. They made the same change in the bedding section for kids so they wouldn’t feel the need to buy a bed set that matches their gender. Now, Target has switched to gender neutral bathrooms allowing people to go to the bathroom for the gender they identify with.

Changing society
While liberals support this lifestyle, I don’t. Male and female bathrooms were made for a certain gender not for people who believe or want to be a gender they are not. Not just transgenders use the bathroom but also other people who did not change their gender identity. Therefore, I think transgenders should use the family bathroom. This was a decision they made, and it should not be expected for everyone else to accept it. Growing up we teach our children the boys’ bathroom is for boys and the girls’ bathroom is for girls; now are we expected to say the bathrooms can be used by anyone who identifies with that gender.

Open bathrooms are dangerous (moms)
Mothers take their children to the bathroom, and they shouldn’t have to wonder if there will be a person of the opposite sex in there and try to figure out how they should explain why to their child. I don’t think that this is a fair decision. Yes, it accommodates the needs of a small transgender population but what about the population who doesn’t agree with those decisions or are uncomfortable with the thought of having to share a bathroom with them. I understand people don’t have to use the bathrooms Target provides, but if someone needs to go to the bathroom, they should not have to wait or leave the store because they don’t feel comfortable sharing a bathroom with transgenders. By having gender neutral bathrooms, Target puts its customers at risk and potentially looks at future lawsuits. Before having gender neutral bathrooms, people would be alert if a man were to walk into the women’s bathroom and the same if a woman were to walk into the mens bathroom. Now with these new bathrooms a man could walk into the women’s restroom claiming he was a transgender and end up doing something inappropriate to a female in the bathroom. This opinion could be a little far fetched, but I don’t have faith people won’t use this to their advantage. Making this decision was not a good one, and I hope with time restrooms will go back to the way they used to be.

Transgender
On the subject of transgender identity, I believe this was their choice, and I’m okay with that. Although I do not agree with their decision and have not chosen that lifestyle for myself, I have no problem with them as a person. I have friends who identify as gay, lesbian and ones that have thought about transitioning. I still love them and consider them my greatest friends. Growing up in a conservative home and going to church every Sunday and Wednesday, I have been taught that practicing transgenderism is wrong, but at the same time, I have also learned I need to show love to everyone I come across no matter their life choices. I have chosen to look at the subject with love. I acknowledge to this group that this isn’t a life they have chosen but an emotion they cannot ignore or rid. I, on the other hand, feel this was something they chose. They wanted to change their gender, and I don’t believe it should be pushed on the people who don’t take part in it.

Target just being liberal
I am still trying to figure out what prompted Target to come out and do this. After all, other places have followed the trend and did not make a big spectacle of it. I think this was just a move where Target can say, “Hey look at us. We are liberals and we support transgenders.” Target wants to be noticed as a hip store, they are trying to be like that obnoxious parent that acts young to impress their kids and get them to want to hangout with them. In my opinion, I think they could have and should have done this in a quiet and less flashy way. This change wasn’t for the transgender population itself but instead to show the public Target supports liberal ways in order to pull in more customers.

About the Contributor
Anna Jordan
Anna Jordan, Staff Writer
Hey I'm Anna Jordan and I am going to keep this short and sweet just like me. I am a senior and have been apart of the Newspaper department for three years.
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  • K

    Katie McClellanNov 28, 2017 at 9:52 am

    What if that person was your sibling or best friend? Would you love them any less for only being true to who they are and how they feel? These people are human; it’s time we stop criticizing them and start understanding they have a basic fundamental human right to be who they are.

    “There is nothing more important than love. And no law higher.”
    Cassandra Clare

  • D

    David JosephsonAug 16, 2016 at 3:56 pm

    I just want to point out that it is your choice to be conservitive… it is your choice to be christian… it is your choice to be homophobic… it is your choice to be ignorant…

    “This was a decision they made, and it should not be expected for everyone else to accept it.”- Anna Jordan

    “Yes, it accommodates the needs of a small transgender population but what about the population who doesn’t agree with those decisions or are uncomfortable with the thought of having to share a bathroom with them. I understand people don’t have to use the bathrooms Target provides, but if someone needs to go to the bathroom, they should not have to wait or leave the store because they don’t feel comfortable sharing a bathroom with transgenders.”

    You’re free to use the family bathrooms, where the doors do have locks. Your use of public facilities is a ‘choice,’ afterall.

    The US Majority made a choice when they elected in the present administration (twice), which casts your opinion into the larger minority. Should it be ok for the liberal majority to discriminate against you as a result of your clearly stated ‘choices,’ as expressed in this article, simply because they disagree with them?

    Discrimination under the thinly veiled guise of free speech and religious freedom, is a slippery slope. The US constitution guarantees religious freedom to all US citizens, not just conservitive Christians. Which, in my opinion, means that religion has no place in political discussions such as this. Your religion is your own, and mine are my own. Your neighbors’ are their own, and their brother’s are his own, etc. Regardless of how they differ, they are all equally protected.

    Your beliefs do not afford your opinions a place of elevation amongst anyone else’s as evidence of moral righteousness. Nor do my own. The Constitution does not protect some beliefs more equally than others. And while your right to state your opinions is a protection granted to you as an American citizen, so must you accept that everyone else (such as the spokespeople for Target, for instance) has an equal right to express their own opinions.

    There is widely expressed opinion among religious conservitives that Christian business owners should have the right to exclude homosexual customers from their businesses if it conflicts with their moral interests, and that government should not have the right to interfere. If private conservitive businesses should not have to cater to people they disagree with, why should private liberal businesses have to cater to christian conservitives by selectively excluding people from using their private restrooms?

    I urge you to step outside of the conservitive herd and to think for yourself a little bit. Life is short, and it’s short for everyone. We should all have the unimpeded right to pursue our own happiness and to experience our own miseries with dignity, so long as it does not infringe on anyone esle’s equal rights.

  • M

    MikeAug 16, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    (Preface: This is sarcasm and is used to show you how idiotic you are being. If you couldn’t tell that immediately, you’re irredeemable)

    Right…
    On the same note, I don’t agree with christians. I think that we should take away all safe spaces from them and shame them because of the “”lifestyle”” they chose. I also think we should destroy all churches because *I* don’t agree and I don’t like it. I’m not bigoted!! I have tons of christian friends who I openly shame but I love them!! I use the word ‘Christianed’ as a noun. What other word would be appropriate?? Obviously I know best for a massive group in the population because I was tought to think this way by my parents, and they weren’t bigots!! I still love christianed!!

  • L

    Legacy studentJul 31, 2016 at 12:52 am

    You continually claim that “this is the way our society is and because we made it that way, it should stay that way”……how are we to refine a greater society when we get stuck in our ways so easily? This is what being a liberal means to me. You are willing to challenge traditional beliefs, willing to evolve on issues. These laws are not in any way harming you, too many people are stuck in that mentality. They believe that if someone who they don’t agree with gets rights, they are being prosecuted which is simply put, wrong in a free society. In that way, you are implying that your social group is better and gets privilege over another group. Why is that? Because you believe being transgender weird? You bring up the “what about the kids?” argument which is flawed logic. You could say the same thing about gays (which from what I have read, seems likely you would)……or even race! In order to show how absurd certain mentalities are, I like to present an extreme case as it tends to resonate with people more and bring them to understanding. Suppose your religions belief is that being black is wrong (for arguments sake) and they are giving rights to blacks. You could say exactly the same thing “how do you explain that to your children?”. If you are afraid to show your child different viewpoints in hopes of preserving their (or rather your) viewpoint, maybe your viewpoint is flawed. Or maybe it’s not, but why not let them make that decision instead of using propaganda to sway them? You didn’t mention any physical danger so I won’t go into that but if sharing a bathroom with someone who has ideals that conflict yours is worrisome for you, you are gonna have a difficult time in life. At the end, you stated “I acknowledge to this group that this isn’t a life they have chosen but an emotion they cannot ignore or rid. I, on the other hand, feel this was something they chose.”. I am not sure what stance you take as you seem to contradict yourself. To go on, I’ll just assume that you claim it IS a choice at which point I have to say that it is an injection of your own bias, not evidence based versus the idea that it is genetic which is. To clarify, I am not out to bash you but you add my viewpoint so that maybe you can evolve on the issue. I believe that chances are, you took a one sided approach to this issue.

  • R

    ReneeJun 6, 2016 at 10:01 am

    I just don’t understand the concept of all loving Christians who then say things that are anything but loving. Love has not boundaries you fully love or you don’t