Evan Urquhart

I'm interested in your thoughts.

Overtly reinforcing beliefs that cis women can’t feel safe in bathrooms with trans people caters straight to the precise fears you’re trying to overcome. The presence or absence of penises in the women’s bathroom is an issue the other side *wants* to litigate on.

The other side wants passing trans men to quietly break their law so it can be enforced selectively against trans women. Shining a light on the unintended consequences of a bad law won't play into their hands. It will embarrass them.

It will cause a change in legal phrasing around the presence of particular genitalia. Emphasizing differences rarely wins culture wars; emphasize the ways we are the same. Gay marriage won because straight people decided gay couples were like them & should be treated as such.

This is going to have to be one of those agree to disagree moments. You can't avoid all conflict and hope the good people will see you're right. You have to highlight the absurdity and injustice you're faced with in ways that grab attention and make people uncomfortable.

Demonstrations of injustice only catalyze change when the victim is clearly innocent of wrongdoing and is subject to unjust force. Being rude in bathrooms won’t convince people you’re innocent of wrongdoing & a victim of injustice. It will just convince them you are Other.

But if I convince women that I am other, I've won. I want people to understand that I'm not a woman.

If you convince a bunch of cis people that trans people are rude and icky, they aren’t going to improve how they treat you. There are effective tactics for cultural change. Most are built on a foundation of getting more people to consider you part of “us” instead of “them”.