April 28, 2016
To the writer of the April 25 Enquiry article entitled “North Carolina Law Protects Women:”
I truly wish you had attended my senior Creative Writing reading last Wednesday, in which I read from my non-fiction essays on my transition from female to male, which also included a discussion on the HB2 in North Carolina. I think that, had you attended, you would not have published your article in the Enquiry.
Your article troubles me immensely. While you may not believe yourself to be transphobic, the argument you present is inherently such. I will give you the benefit of the doubt, as living in a place of white, male, cis-privilege could have just blinded you to this fact.
My terse response is that we are all just trying to take a piss, period. My longer response is this:
The first thing I want to address is this quote at the beginning of your article. “In NC, a post-operation transsexual person can amend his or her birth certificate with a notarized reassignment surgeons letter, a court order for a legal name change, and a $15 processing fee.”
Your blasé tone about how easy it is to get around this law is almost laughable, so let us unpack this. First off, this statement perpetuates the sentiment that every transgender person desires to even get surgery. Not every transgender person feels the need to get surgery to be comfortable in their body. That also means that if you are transgender and do not want surgery, you cannot change your birth certificate in North Carolina, making your point moot.
Second, do you realize how expensive gender reassignment surgery is? It can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000. This is impossible for many people to finance. And a name change? I underwent that process just this year. It costs $412.50 in Florida, and requires an extensive background check and court appearance. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, “To obtain a legal name change in North Carolina, an applicant must submit a petition to the court. Before filing the petition, the applicant must publish notice at the courthouse door for ten days…along with the petition, the applicant must submit proof of the applicant’s good character by two county citizens and FBI and State Bureau of Investigations Record Checks.” Yes, that $15 processing fee does seem small when you compare it to everything else. You, sir, just have to get out of bed in the morning to be yourself. Can you imagine going through all of the above to be yourself?
The mere title of your article implies that trans people are inherently dangerous. That somehow if a transwoman (with a penis) goes into a women’s room, she obviously would assault the real women and girls (sarcasm abounds). I honestly ask you, how does that make sense? You state that you are not implying that all transgender people are sex offenders, but your argument is subversively implying this nonetheless. I ask you, what exactly is unsafe about a transwoman walking into a women’s bathroom and peeing with her (gasp) penis? Moreover, what is stopping a cis-man from waltzing into a women’s room to commit a crime? Sexual assault is a crime no matter who commits it. A certain category of people is not more likely to commit it than another, and a law criminalizing using the bathroom as a transgender person to prevent assaults (that there is no empirical evidence to suggest actually happen) is just based in transphobia.
Last year, over 20 transgender people were murdered for being trans, the majority of them trans women of color. What happens when you force a woman to walk into a men’s room likely occupied by transphobic and/or sexist men? She is likely to face violence. What you fail to realize is this law does not protect anyone; it actually endangers transgender people.
This law also has even bigger ramifications. A study, recently published from Georgia State University, found that 46.5 percent of transgender college students have attempted suicide when their campus experience includes being denied access to bathrooms and gender-appropriate campus housing. Another study by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention found that 41 percent of all transgender individuals have attempted suicide at some point in their life, which is staggering when compared with the 4.6 percent rate of the general population. When I read about the HB2 law over spring break, I instantly felt fear and shame about myself. I, a well-adjusted and accepted trans man in a loving community, felt deeply upset. How do you think a young and impressionable person struggling with their trans identity would react to this law? I guarantee you far more trans people are in danger now, either from others or themselves, after this law. Your article is dangerous because it perpetuates absolute falsehoods that in turn have very real life-or-death implications for transgender people.
I urge you to issue an apology and rescind your article, or at the very least, go to transequality.org to learn more about trans issues.