UH System

UH-D student government passes bill promoting gender-neutral restrooms

Staged illustration: Transgender students may now be able to escape the harassment they may face in binary restrooms through UH-Downtown's new bill to open gender-neutral bathrooms.

Staged illustration: Transgender students may now be able to escape the harassment they may face in binary restrooms through UH-Downtown’s new bill to open gender-neutral bathrooms.

The UH-Downtown Student Government Association unanimously passed a new legislation Friday, providing gender-neutral and family restrooms for students. UH-D SGA Vice President Kristopher Sharp introduced the bill after hearing firsthand accounts from transgender students who have faced discrimination at male and female restrooms, many of whom he knew from the LBGTQ community center Safe Zone, which he heads.

“Inclusion is the cornerstone of everything that we do,” Sharp said. “I think we are a university that has historically served minority populations, and we need to be able to move beyond just race. Gender minorities are in many ways excluded from higher education and the academia simply because they don’t have proper accommodations.”

As a member of the LGBTQ community, Sharp has faced struggles of his own. While campaigning last year for the vice presidency with running mate Isaac Valdez, the current UH-D SGA president, he was attacked for his sexual orientation. Both Sharp and Valdez ran on a platform of inclusiveness.

“We are inherently a diverse university, and it’s great, but just because you are naturally a diverse university doesn’t mean that you do a lot to affirm that diversity and let people know that ‘you’re a welcome part.’”

The problem of harassment and confrontation endured by transgender individuals seemed to be so well-known in gender minority communities that the phenomenon was referred to as “The Restroom Problem” in the SGA resolution. The senate resolution called for action to create gender-neutral restrooms to provide relief for these students, who also pay tuition.

“One should have the opportunity to meet their basic needs, such as using the restroom, without fear of reprimand, discrimination or adversity. For transgender and gender-nonconforming students, gender-segregated restrooms can be spaces where they are met with intimidation, harassment, run-ins with security and/or violence,” according to senate resolution #SR2014JAN10.

Pro-temp UH-D Student Body Chief of Staff Thomas Williams hopes to see the university take swift action to bring the resolution to life by the end of the semester. But Williams doesn’t want it to stop there; he believes safe restrooms for gender minorities should be on the city’s roundtable, too.

“I would like to see this concept taken throughout not only the UH System, but spark this discussion throughout the entire Houston community and making sure that we are treating all people equally,” Williams said. “Our ability to pass this unanimously shows that this next generation doesn’t see people who identify differently as any different; they’re people that should be treated just the same as anybody else.”

Though UH-D is currently working on gender-neutral restrooms, UH’s main campus has already been on the ball. SGA President Cedric Bandoh was glad to see the restrooms added during the construction of the New University Center alongside those already in service across campus.

“At UH, all of our new buildings have (gender-neutral restrooms), so I don’t see it as an issue here,” Bandoh said. “I’m happy that’s happening in the downtown campus, and it’s already happening here.”

UH-D SGA hopes to have six gender-neutral restrooms in the campus’s three buildings. It will meet with university officials to determine the specifics and a timeline for the project.

There are more than 14 gender-neutral, single-stall restrooms across the main campus. A map and other resources can be found at the LGBT Resource Center in the University Center North, room N201.

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68 Comments

  • I’m glad my tuition is being used to pay for dumb things. First of all, there is no such thing as gender. It is a social construct. We also shouldn’t be confined to restrooms at all. Why not relieve yourself wherever you please! That would be true equality!

    • Thank you! Gender is a social construct. There is nothing different at all between so called “males” and “females”. We need to get out of the Victorian period.

      • Science is clear. If you have a Y chromosome, you are male. If lack the Y chromosome you are female. Both the Internal and external sexual organs can differ due to normal variations, anomalies and/or medical conditions. Their ‘feelings’ about which gender they belong to do not validate the facts.

        • The science of sex detemination is a bit more complex than this. The facts as you see them are just an illusion to salve your discrimination.

          • What sex is a person with a “XO” chromosome?
            They are female, regardless of whatever the “feel” they are.
            Using political correctness to bypass science does not make your lack of scientific knowledge(especially embryology/genetics) any less obvious.

  • The men’s restrooms is like a war zone. Land mines everywhere! Finally I can go to a restroom with “ladies” that don’t leave a mess like a bunch of pigs.

  • My birth certificate may state that I’m male, but I identify myself as female. I’d rather go to the women’s restroom. Its cleaner, safer, and more comfortable for me. Why not give us to right? Just because most people see me as a male, I should be denied that right?

  • This can of worms is the result of doctors abandoning their Hippocratic Oath i.e.”Do no harm”. Instead of helping patients with gender identity disorder get counseling to face the realities of their gender, they opt to make money on “sex-change” operations and hormonal therapy. Motivation for changing the DSM’s position on sexual deviations was a political and non-medical one. I have a middle-aged neighbor that believes a plastic doll is her real life child. She takes the doll for walks in a stroller. Imagine if society was convinced that in order for her to feel more welcomed, people should accept that the toy doll was a real child since SHE “feels” it is an actual living breathing child. My neighbor tells me she cannot work because she cannot find a babysitter for her “child”. Imagine if enough people with this fantasy
    lobbyied and convinced the public schools to let like-minded people(“parents” of dolls) enroll
    their dolls in school. It surely would help with diversity and inclusiveness if we gave them the opportunities that every other “parent” has regarding children. There is a substantial group of anorexics that claim anorexia is not an illness but a “lifestyle”. Unlike those with sexual deviations, anorexics have been less successful with lobbying. It may change one day. What if the anorexics (pro-Ana movement) and bulimics lobbied to have weight scales in the food court so that they could measure themselves? I’m sure they would feel more included and it also would increase diversity on campus. I doubt UH would agree since the university wouldn’t want to look as if it promoted anorexia and bulimia. We shouldn’t cater to anyone’s fantasy or mental illness. Its bad enough there are people with delusions and living in a fantasy world. It is foolish to go along with it.

    • You’re totally right! My neighbor believes that a man, who could transmute water into alcohol and walk on water, came back from the dead and now secretly watches him and judges his every action. I mean, talk about crazy. What’s worse is he’s a member of a whole group of people who think just like him and the government placates their brand of crazy with tax breaks and special laws! What is society coming to when we let people like that watch our kids or even take office (though you have to be a little nuts to be a politician anyways).

      • Does the medical community(at large), state these beliefs are true facts? Should they promote these ideas? If so, how does that go into accordance with science?

        • The point I was making is that a huge percent of the population believing a man could transmute liquids and walk on water seems to be completely sane to people but someone saying they have a medical condition which affects their brain chemistry is insane? How does that make sense?

      • But at least the majority of them know what gender they are.

        As an atheist I’ve seen:
        1)Transgenders wish to be considered a gender that they are not. Yet many of them have no problem determining who is really a male or female(esp. when looking at other “transgenders”)
        2)They try to shame others(healthy individuals) into accepting what they know to be false(someones true sex)
        3)use evidence that they are special(abnormal brain scans, comorbid disorders) but cannot admit that it proves their mental & physical disorder. If they were truly “healthy” they wouldn’t have these special medical characteristics en masse.

        • So should we start a homoglasses club and tell people that wearing classes that they are not right in the head because if Jesus wanted them to see clearly he wouldn’t have made them half blind? Tell people that wear glasses that since we cannot actually see that the lens is causing nearsightedness we only get to take the patients word for it. What about Lasik? that actually cuts a slit into the eye. So should the doctor then refuse service because he could actually cause more harm? Beside wearing wear plastic things on ones face is not natural. I’ve never seen anyone genetically grow plastic circular things with glass circles over there evey

        • I somehow suspect you are the person I responded to creating a sock called atheist to try and support your point. You certainly don’t sound like an atheist. Trans people have always struck me as a whole lot more sane than someone thinking death an anthropomorphic representation of death, war, famine, and pestilence is going to literally ride around on horses.

          • What does an atheist “sound like” to you? Because I’m not a rabid Christian hater? I don’t agree with you that if people believe in the supernatural, that it is as crazy as people having delusions that can easily be proven otherwise. I cannot prove that the flying spaghetti monster exists or does not exist(we use this construct against theists all the time). But I can prove that a doll bought at ToysRUS is not a real baby(put it in a microwave and watch it melt), and I can prove a person’s true sex with chromosomal karyotyping(too many people are trying to confuse people with the term “gender” which has traditionally been used synonymously with “sex” to mean other things). Doctors do not have brain scans or any of the evidence to prove that Christians(due to believing Jesus can walk on water) are diseased as they can for transgenders. People like Schizophrenics who hear voices(not detected by any audio intruments) have elevated levels of dopamine, and this helps to prove they are crazy. You seem to be fine with craziness as long as it fits your political agenda. Thats not that very different from what you criticize.

            • “I don’t agree with you that if people believe in the supernatural, that
              it is as crazy as people having delusions that can easily be proven
              otherwise.”
              Yes, that’s pretty much why. Especially considering there are a number of studies which gives supporting evidence toward transsexualism being a neurological condition disorder.

              “and I can prove a person’s true sex with chromosomal karyotyping”

              Actually you can’t, or at least not as a universal rule. I speak as someone who is intersexed. I’m a phenotypical female with XY chromosomes due to AIS. My doctors didn’t even know until I hit puberty. There are even women who have given birth despite having XY chromosomes.

              If people like me exist who has a disorder that affects sexual characteristics in my body why is it so hard to believe there are disorders that do the same to the brain, especially when there are studies to support that conclusion.

              • Gender Identity Disorder is a neurological disorder with psychiatric
                consequences. Schizophrenia has a neurological and biochemical basis
                that creates psychiatric problems as well That doesn’t turn the
                delusions into facts.

                These delusions have neurological evidence
                to explain their mechanism. I haven’t read any comments on here that
                refute any neurological abnormalities of trangender people.

                “Actually you can’t, or at least not as a universal rule. I speak as
                someone who is intersexed. I’m a phenotypical female with XY chromosomes
                due to AIS.”

                You can, and karyotyping proved the true sex, which(along with other tests) were needed to detect the existence of AIS. Without the karyotyping, the doctors were ignorant of AIS until you hit puberty and decided to investigate what was wrong.

                “There are even women who have given birth despite having XY chromosomes”
                I noticed that you are talking about “giving birth” which is not the same as having their own naturally ovulated egg, naturally becoming fertilized that is implanted, carried to term and resulting the delivery of a healthy offspring.

    • How does it feel to know you stand against every medical authority in the Western world? Because they all say that transition is the best thing for transgender people, not so-called “curative therapy”. They tried that for over a decade and it didn’t work. Transgender people aren’t crazy, they have a condition where their brains are masculinized or feminized in contrast to their bodies. We have fMRI and CAT scan data to prove it.The only one in a fantasy world here is you.

      • Maybe one day they will say that acceptance of anorexia as a “lifestyle” is also the best thing. Paraphilias are gaining quite an acceptance as “normal lifestyles/behaviors” by the medical community. You put too much faith into “medical authority”. I am a neurologist(M.D.) with extensive practice in neuropsychiatry and have seen many people with these issues successfully treated with counseling. Having done an internship with my uncle who is a plastic
        surgeon(performs surgeries strictly for victims of disfigurement), I
        know that most plastic surgery patients(non-disfigurement patients who are seeking to “improve attractiveness”)
        could use some psychological counseling to improve their self
        esteem/image rather than resort to plastic surgery. Many doctors have
        abandoned their oath and duty in favor of money.

        • Transgenderism isn’t a paraphilia. Take a look at “Gender Dysphoria” in your DSM V. Repression therapy DOES NOT WORK. It has never worked. It doesn’t work with homosexuals and it doesn’t work with transgender people. It is an outdated, harmful practice that causes severe mental problems later in life and often leads to suicide.

          The reason that hormones and surgery are the recommended treatment is because you cannot change the mind. Changing the body works, we have tens of thousands of transgender people to prove this. After they have completed their transition, they no longer have dysphoria. Unlike people with BIID or BDD, transgender people don’t continue getting surgery after surgery when they become suitably male or female.

          • Please learn to read. I did not say it is a paraphilia. The DSM V is not the “end all”. Who knows what they will put in the DSM-X. It has more to do with politics than anything else. Having “transgender” patients succumb to their feelings is no different than what the pro-Ana movement is doing. There are many ways people escape their dysphoria. Its laughable that many of you consider BDD a disease but “transgenderism” as healthy.

            • Who does it harm? The criteria for a mental disorder is that it must cause harm or distress to the person possessing it, or to others around that person. Dysphoria disappears when a person has been properly treated via transitioning. Unlike anorexics, who still see themselves as overweight even when they are deathly thin. If anorexia could be cured by weight loss, then you’d have a point. But it isn’t cured like that. Dysphoria is. Like ‘shasta’ above you, you are engaging in a false analogy. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/False_analogy

              • A false analogy is “cis” is healthy, so “trans” must be healthy. “Transformation” does not cure anyone. Do you know what a placebo is? That is one of the many phenomena that create impressions of a cure. Gender Identity disorder patients still have the delusion after “transformation. They are hurting themselves socially, mentally, and physically(surgeries, hormones), but they do not want to admit it. I think it we will see the morbidly obese lobby successfully to end the medical view that it is unhealthy. You will be in good company

                • Prove to me that it does not help them. The only view we can possibly have of others is an objective one, subjective views must come from within. If a person says that they are happy, and no longer dysphoric, and their actions support that, we must believe it. You are starting at the assumption that they are deluded, and that transition does not accomplish its goals, and working from there. You constantly assert that trans people are diseased, yet offer nothing to back that statement up. All you have are weak analogies and all to common “knee-jerk” reactions.

                  A morbidly obese person is the same as a repressed trans person, if we use your analogy. Attempting to prove that morbid obesity healthy is therefore the same as you trying to prove that transition is unhealthy. A morbidly obese person becomes more healthy by losing weight, and a transgender person becomes more healthy by transitioning. You can say that they are lying, or deluded, but the fact remains that transgender people who transition have a much higher life expectancy and overall stated happiness than those who did not.

                  Just do some research on the subject. You’re trying to apply your doctorate to an area you’re not qualified to speak in, like a botanist at a zoology convention. I’ve done extensive research in this field and spoken to hundreds of transgender people firsthand. I might not have a doctorate but that doesn’t stop me from being more educated in this subject than you.

                  • Your “extensive” research is worthless. You have no medical knowledge. You do not even have a basic understanding of human physiology. Transgender are diseased. If they were healthy to begin with, they wouldn’t be looking into the harmful hormones and surgeries to “cure” their “dysphoria”.
                    There are less harmful and dangerous ways to approach this disorder. Even if surgical advances are to the degree that a male with gender identity disorder can receive operations that give them a real uterus, ovaries, fallopian tube, external genitalia, and other tissues that a normal healthy woman would have, they would still be a male. The chromosomes do not lie. They will still be living with their delusions that can easily be proven otherwise. Engaging in all these radical practices in a failed attempt to validate their delusions, it hasn’t changed who they really are(chromosomal sex). This, among many facts proves they are diseased.

                    • You’re right. I’m just a philosopher, not a scientist. When I get an answer, it’s my job to ask “Yes, but why?” You’re the scientist here.

                      So tell me this. How would you, a lone neurologist up against the AMA; the APA; and the WPATH; among many others, suggest we treat transgender individuals? Do you have anything better? Anything at all? Simply shouting that “THEY’RE DISEASED!” doesn’t do anything. Transitioning works, repression therapy does not, we have proven this with decades of real world cases. You have yet to offer a single viable alternative to transition.

                      Are we to let biology be our destiny? Saying “chromosomes don’t lie” is itself a lie. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, where a person is XY but has female genitalia and development, is just one of many intersex conditions where an individuals chromosomes are full of shit. Would you force these men and women, who have grown and lived as such for their entire lives, to switch over simply because of their genes? Are they too, “diseased”?

                      In every other example you have supplied, feeding the person’s condition causes them to spiral downwards. Social Anxiety Disorder, Anorexia, even Alcoholism, all of these become more troubled as their behavior is encouraged. But not trans people. They get better. Dysphoria lessens, depression lifts, they often become more social and personable. Fighting against transition has the opposite effect. Obviously, something is wrong with your diagnosis.

                      You’re a scientist, not a priest, stop fighting against things that are proven. Holding onto your beliefs in the face of evidence isn’t part of the scientific process.

                    • Septet said: Are we to let biology be our destiny? Saying “chromosomes don’t lie” is itself a lie.

                      Chromosomes do not lie. I already explained to you that the chromosomes show the true sex of an individual, and will explain a little further in this reply. I am not here to discuss philosophy with you. If you think a mental illness is something healthy, that is your opinion, but you are medically incorrect. Your feelings have no standing in what is medically correct.

                      Septet said”Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, where a person is XY but has female
                      genitalia and development, is just one of many intersex conditions where
                      an individuals chromosomes are full of shit.”

                      The chromosomes are not “full of shit” as you put it. Going to medical school may help you with your ignorance. Chromosomes code for the sex of an individual. That a person has a disease in which they lack the internal or external genitalia that is present in a healthy person of their sex(or have the genitalia normally present in the opposite sex)does not make them a different sex or “non-gender”. There are only two sexes, male and female. These are determined ONLY by the chromosomes.

                      Septet said:”Social Anxiety Disorder, Anorexia, even Alcoholism, all of these become more troubled as their behavior is encouraged”

                      Many recluse individuals will disagree with you. They will tell you that they are less troubled and they feel perfectly fine avoiding contact with other individuals. Referring to some of your previous statements, I suppose you would have to “trust them”. Medicine does not work that way.

                      Septet said:”So tell me this. How would you, a lone neurologist up against the AMA;
                      the APA; and the WPATH; among many others, suggest we treat transgender
                      individuals? Do you have anything better? Anything at all?”

                      I am not alone. The APA is as much(I believe it is more) of a political organization than medical organization.There are many brilliant psychiatrists who disagree with the APA, but must fall in line due to the politics and retribution involved. I am a neurologist for many reasons. Psychiatrists as a specialty have some of the lowest opinions/respect in the medical community. They generally(not ALL as there are some brilliant psychiatrists who chose this specialization for their love of psychiatry) were some of the “worst” students in regards to grades and USMLE scores. Sadly many of these lower academic performing psychiatrists have found a way to exert influence within the medical community. I do not wish to get into an argument with you on the importance of grades or test scores. These are also quasi-objective ways to judge a student/doctor’s abilities/knowledge/intelligence. The AMA is a political group that lobbies to decrease the doctor supply in an attempt to maintain the wages of doctors. This in itself proves it is not a medical organization in the best interest of patients, but a political organization. Lobbying from various groups and the use of political correctness have done a great harm in the dismissal of medical truths in favor of lies that appeal to special interest groups.

                      Among those that promote “non-transformation” therapy for individuals afflicted with Gender Identity Disorder, there are many therapies of differing efficacy. Some are more effective than others(depending on circumstances of the patients) like many other medical conditions. Just like the horror stories you have described, it was common in the past to torture alcoholics. That does not make it proper to encourage them to continue their bad drinking habits. Instead, proper cognitive therapy has been created and has improved many lives. I like to be careful with the term “cure”. A cure generally means the complete and permanent removal of the disease/medical condition. It would be far easier for me to discuss this with you had you completed pathology in medical school. I will try as efficiently as possible to explain. Alcoholism can rarely be cured. The greatest extent of a cure would be a former alcoholic that could drink alcohol and have the self control of a healthy individual. The “success” seen in alcoholics is generally when they are not “cured” but instead abstain from alcohol and experience minimal relapses. Similarly with Gender Identity Disorder, they rarely can be “cured”. However they can be managed with a prolonged absence of gender dysphoria with minimal relapses. This can be accomplished through cognitive therapy. Endocrinological therapy to encourage the pronouncement of their true sex is an option in combination with cognitive therapy. Unlike the pharmocotherapy(unnecessary) promoted by the APA, it is less radical in the fact that it alters the brain towards the correct brain composition instead of a brain with further pathology. Pharmacotherapy should be used with great caution as it has many dangerous side effects and should be avoided as much as possible. The proper treatment of Gender Identity Disorder totally avoids the reckless and lucrative “sex change” surgeries that the medical profession loves to cash in on. Many patients with Gender Identity Disorder have been successfully treated with cognitive therapy. I can also give you examples of real life patients that have regretted “gender reassignment surgery.” One man has been troubled for a long time. He constantly thought about his healthy testcals that “were cut out and disposed of like garbage”. After the “transformation” he was clinically depressed, attempted suicide, and wondered how his life would have been had he kept his typically masculine body. He has undergone hormonal and exercise to revert as much as possible back to his previous body. He has gained a great amount of muscle mass. He will never get back HIS testicles. His mental status has improved and he has been successfully treated for depression. There are many people like him, and sadly there will be many more as long as this terrible but highly lucrative practice promoted by the APA continues. Saying that a person should succumb to their delusions is a “cure” or “success” is medically incorrect regardless of what the Ayatollahs of the APA, transgender special interests groups, or “philosophers” say.

                      I’m not sure if you are familiar with “species dysphoria”.

                      I do not wish for the APA to promote “species-change operations” that some of the “otherkin” want. Like those in the “transgender” community, the “otherkin” suffer from delusions. These delusions may have visible pathological manifestations on fMRI, CAT scans, neurochemistry, or histology. That doesn’t make it a “healthy lifestyle” or their delusions “facts” like you attempted to argue with Gender Identity Disorder patients. You’re a “philosopher”, not a doctor, stop fighting against things that are medically proven(chromosomes determine sex). I will never surrender to political correctness because the APA has caved into special interest groups. That is not what being a doctor or scientist is about.

                    • Ah yes, just like those special interest groups that stopped doctors from referring to homosexuals as diseased, or black people as animals, or women as being unfit for anything more strenuous than holding a baby or cooking a casserole.

                      It’s clear to me that you have no alternative treatments, and nothing more than the stories of the tiny “ex-trans” community, itself consisting of <2% of the overall trans community. I've read what those people have written as well, and they seem more motivated by religion than anything else.

                      Good luck holding back the tide, you're going to need it.

                    • You champion “transforming” which is not a treatment at all. They still suffer from their delusions that they belong to another sex. They are still delusional. That is a mental illness.
                      Here are some facts that could help educate you:

                      “If you feel trapped in the wrong body, all you need is sex change surgery and your problems will go away and your dreams will come true, right?

                      No. The fact is: surgery will not fix the underlying delusional psychological problems that caused the request for surgery. ”

                      http://www.sexchangeregret.com/Things-Ive-Learned

                      I’m sure the APA or AMA would not want to relinquish their “medical authority” concerning the “otherkin” who have “species dysphoria” over to the Veterinary community. About the “tiny” ex trans community you speak of, the number of alcoholics that are fully “cured” as I mentioned previously is also very “tiny”. That does not mean we should encourage their addiction.

                      Homosexuality is a paraphilia(regardless of what the current DSM says). “Black People” or people of Sub-saharan African descent are homo-sapiens, and all humans are primates. Human females(non-Y chromosome individuals) are capable of many things. You make the mental error that everything politically correct or politically motivated by special interests groups(the ones you support) are correct, and that every change in regards to the DSM, APA, AMA is a step in the right direction. Medicine is medicine. Science is science. Politics is politics. Theology is theology. Feelings are feelings. Delusions are delusions. You should spend more time with those of species dysphoria. You are in very good company with those who have delusions and want to justify them as reality or something healthy.

                      You have NO medical knowledge and should not promote destructive behaviors or delusions because you want to believe it is healthy.

      • Alcoholism, in certain instances can be seen with fMRI and CAT scans. It does not make it a healthy lifestyle. Please don’t encourage a patient suffering from alcoholism to continue their behaviors by giving them some booze, because you may think it helps them feel more welcomed or adds to diversity.

        • Alcoholism (when improperly cared for) is a destructive trait. Not only self-destructive, but harmful to others around the alcoholic as well. Being transgender is not destructive. It doesn’t hurt anyone to help a transgender person transition. There are no cases of people “drunk on hormones” crashing through the wall of a Pizza Hut. The two conditions do not coincide. This is what we refer to as a “false analogy”. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/False_analogy

          The only time people get hurt is when cisgender people attack trans people. There are hundreds of cases each year of trans people being murdered by cis people, and hundreds more of trans people who were “merely” assaulted.

          • Absolute lie. You do not want to talk about the complications/side effects of surgeries and hormones. This never helps people with gender identity disorder. They will always consider themselves to be something which they are not. They are living a lie. Here’s a real false analogy:

            Cis is healthy
            Trans is healthy

            • Complications are a risk of any sort of medical intervention. Sometimes, people die during surgery. Sometimes they have adverse reactions to medication. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are unsafe.

              The huge amount of people who have stated that their transition helped them and went on to lead happy, successful lives contradicts you. You aren’t interested in the science behind transgender people. You aren’t even in the field. You don’t care about the human beings whose lives are affected by this. You just want to spread your bigotry.
              Who does it harm? I see this argument all the time, but I have never seen anyone tell me just who trans people harm. They aren’t harming themselves, in fact they’re FAR less likely to do so after getting access to treatment. (41% suicide rate down to 6%) They certainly aren’t harming cis people. Giving trans people dignity and respect costs you nothing, yet you would take that away from them. You would let them wallow in their dysphoria, lock them into bodies that are anathema to them, and call it kindness?

              There are still people living today who have been harmed by repression therapy. This therapy consists of methods such as cutting or burning oneself whenever one has “unclean” thoughts. They self police themselves with pain, as instructed by so-called experts. This is their alternative to transition. I spoke with someone who was still splashing themselves with scalding water while repeating bible verses 30 years after they had been “cured”. This is not a solution, it is torture.

              • If there bodies are an anathema to them, it shows how mentally ill they are. Someone like you, with no background in surgery or prescribing drugs, has no idea about what you are talking about. Increased prostate cancer and breast cancer is very real. People with Social Anxiety Disorder may not “harm” anyone according to your definition of what is “harm”. They may progress in their disorder and become a recluse. They are still mentally ill. Telling them to live as a recluse to avoid social interactions is not the proper way to treat this illness. Fortunately, they have not organized politically to suppress it from the DSM the way “transgenders” have. Your anecdotal horror stories do not invalidate the truths that “transformation” does not lead to a healthy individual. They are still diseased.

      • Septet said: “they have a condition where their brains are masculinized or feminized
        in contrast to their bodies. We have fMRI and CAT scan data to prove it.”

        Keep living in the fantasy world, trans people will never be the sex they wish to be. You promote the fallacy that :

        If a confused person’s brain is “masculinized” or “feminized” differing from their true sex/gender(Chromosome/genotype) or even their body phenotype(extra-cranial), you would like to alter their body to be in agreement with the diseased brain?

        If the brain is what is wrong, the brain should be altered. You should learn the basic physiological principles concerning the plasticity of the brain. Many alcoholics relapse or fail in pharmacological and cognitive therapy. That does not mean we should promote alcoholism. Saying something is healthy does not make it so.

      • “How does it feel to know you stand against every medical authority in the Western world?”

        Good actually. I was against cavalier use of hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women when the “medical authority” was “unaware” of the side-effects. I took the position that it should be used conservatively after evaluating all the risk factors. I have been vindicated. Even if the risky HR therapies of the past were still as prevalent, I would feel great that I’m a maverick and not a lackey.
        Maybe if you go to med school one day we could have an easier discussion on this topic. You could see for yourself how backwards medicine still is due to profit motives of hospitals and some physicians.

        • Have you been studying transgender people for decades? Because these doctors have. This research has been going on since the 50s. Everything has been tried, and transitioning is the only thing that works. Well, I suppose lobotomy works too, if you don’t mind being a vegetable.

      • “The only one in a fantasy world here is you.”

        Says the person who encourages people with gender identity disorder to continue PRETENDING to be a gender that they will never actually be.

  • I have species dsyphoria. One day I hope to get an operation so that I can have my coccyx altered and have more vertebra added so that I can have a tail just like my cat Fluffy. I would also get implants of tough long hair so I can have the long beautiful whiskers that Fluffy has. I already have contact lenses that are quite similar to Fluffy’s vertical slit pupils. I would also like to get more furry all over just like Fluffy. I can meow even better than Fluffy(don’t tell him, it would hurt his feelings). Sadly, even if all these surgical procedures were available, I have no way to pay for it. Hopefully it will be availabe from my health insurance plan. Like my brothers and sisters in the trans movement, I plan on lobbying to end the quakery that states that I’m actually a human that feels I belong to be a felidae family. Species identity is more complicated than what the bigots say. I am a cat! Hear me roar!

    Anyone who wants to learn more about the truth please go here:
    http://www.otherkincommunity.net/

    • Species dysphoria? where do you go to pee? A litter box? If UH puts up litter boxes for people like you, we’ll never get out of crazy land!

  • gender neutral bathrooms only serve to alienate and ostracize Trans persons . Like black and white spaces did then , like sexism , It is important for trans persons to maintain a normal healthy life as they transition , Discrimination and being alienate and ostracized will hurt innocent people no matter who they are always ! The sole purpose of these bathrooms are to allow the bullies to get there way . since when did an innocent person have to show their genitals before applying for a job or using a bathroom , If trans have to then so should every 1 else !
    If you are so proud of your genitals then why are you always wearing pants ? ( lol )

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