LGBT Rights and Gender Equality Thread - Page 19

On March 25 2013 10:55 Alay wrote:


Well, the only time I've ever been in that situation was a shit employer who wanted to give me grief. Back then, Social Security had this fun policy of flagging someone whose application gender marker didn't match their records (which are only changeable by surgery. Fantastic, but silly pricey) so they found out, and decided all high and mighty that they'd terminate me if I used anything but the men's restroom. By this point, I was passing fine, so it was really irritating. I walked into the rest room one day when I really couldn't wait (up until then I had just waited until I got home) and had two older gentlemen started asking what I was doing when this was clearly the wrong restroom--asking if I had gotten lost etc lol. I did my business, told them they I was apparently just a bit confused, then just went to my boss and told him that he could find someone else and quit.
I've read several cases where similar happened, and the person developed a bladder infection or the like from trying to hold it rather than be humiliated. My state passed a bathroom/housing/employment law last year that cut this shit finally--but not without the typical opposition arguments.

Regardless though, there's a hell of a lot of different people at there. In all my years of living, I can't remember one time I really paid much attention to anyone else in a restroom. The whole "men pretending to be women to rape women in changing rooms/bathrooms!" boogeyman is a hilariously poor defense that a lot of people use too--as though there's some mystical barrier that the door sign gives to stop someone from doing that without bothering to pretend to be the opposite gender.

Honestly, I think a personal policy of using whatever restroom/changing room results in the least commotion is best, and a hammer one way or the other is stupid--it causes just as much commotion for a passing trans person to enter the bathroom of their birth sex as a non-passing trans person entering one of their gender. But that may also be my passing privilege speaking, and I remember how much it fucking sucked to have to use the men's room in the past. Trust me, the amount of time a lot of trans people spend thinking about the choice when looking at this sign is way more than most cis people ever will.
That being said, I think the "awkwardness" of the trans person takes priority in this case. Denying someone accommodation based on their gender identity seems like the greater evil. I mean, for example, I might find using the bathroom with someone that is mentally retarded or has a severe handicap very awkward, but I don't feel my ease should supersede their ability to use the same restroom as me. Again, perhaps a personal bias on the subject, so I can only give one side really.

Another example could be things like security checks and pat-downs. In many cases, a person is offered a check by an individual of the same gender. If the trans persons gender identity isn't respected there, it could be quite uncomfortable for them (I personally don't mind much either way, but I know some people really wouldn't want to be felt up by the opposite sex like that.) Society has a ton of little gendered things that most people don't really ever think about, that in many ways could be use to humiliate or otherwise oppress a trans person if so desired, even if Men and Women have equal rights.

On April 19 2013 02:14 Plexa wrote:
This, to me, is actually really interesting. Do you have/know of any sources which can elaborate on this so I can read up on it?

Research has shown that the kids of same-sex couples — both adopted and biological kids — fare no worse than the kids of straight couples on mental health, social functioning, school performance and a variety of other life-success measures.

In a 2010 review of virtually every study on gay parenting, New York University sociologist Judith Stacey and University of Southern California sociologist Tim Biblarz found no differences between children raised in homes with two heterosexual parents and children raised with lesbian parents.

"There's no doubt whatsoever from the research that children with two lesbian parents are growing up to be just as well-adjusted and successful" as children with a male and a female parent," Stacey told LiveScience.

There is very little research on the children of gay men, so Stacey and Biblarz couldn't draw conclusions on those families. But Stacey suspects that gay men "will be the best parents on average," she said.

On April 19 2013 02:30 SiroKO wrote:


Biological kid of same sex couple is an oxymoron.
Besides, they are conflicting views on the matter.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X12000610

They're huge statistical differences in child/teenager behavior depending on whether he/she was raised by a single mother, or a single father, or a traditional family. Just using common sense, you can guess that being adopted by 2 men or 2 women will have a different impact on a child/teenager.

Also, you can cast a lot of doubt on so called scientists claiming "There's no doubt whatsoever from the research that children with two lesbian parents are growing up to be just as well-adjusted and successful" as children with a male and a female parent". The simple idea of a scientist claiming "there's no doubt whatsoever" makes me shiver.

On April 19 2013 02:37 Plexa wrote:
I guess I should elaborate on why I think the way that was phrased is interesting. I've never quite seen it phrased the way that orphans struggle to accept the adoption process as a child and that this period of integration could be exacerbated by being adopted into a gay family. Thus while studies concerning the long term implications on children general come out the same, there may be some short term implications that are not accounted for. Not that I believe this is the case, but I'm interested in the argumentation/evidence behind it.