Here we go… It’s time for another Lu loo tale.
This week, trans people were legally un-recognised in this country. Trans men are no longer viewed as men. Trans women are no longer viewed as women. Non-binary people are still not recognised, just like before, but now we’re even more fucked.
As a joke, I jokingly asked Keir Starmer which toilet I should use (the mens or the womens) every day for over two weeks but he unfortunately didn’t reply.
Today, the answer to that question is even more unclear, with the head of the government’s equality committee stating that trans people should use the toilet that matches their “biological sex”, a terf dog whistle referring to sex assigned at birth. It sounds like a scientific term but it’s not. It’s completely made up and intentionally vague and divisive.
What this means is… We’re now at this ridiculous point where people like Hunter Schafer will legally have to use the mens loo in this country.
For trans men, it’s even more ridiculous. They’re now banned from the womens toilet, because they’re men. But they’re also banned from the mens toilet, because the government refuses to recognise the fact that they’re men. In the eyes of the government, they’re not men. They’re not women either. So where should they piss?
There’s this— This lovely brand new idea of a “third space” is now getting thrown around: A “third space” toilet for all the undesirable trans people to go and piss in, away from all the “normal” people. Don’t squint too hard or it’ll start to look like segregation.
If you look more closely at the actual court ruling, you can see that many people are exaggerating its impacts.
Its ramifications are not as bad as many people are making out. However, in the real world, this means nothing at all. How people interpret the ruling is much more impactful to my life than what the ruling actually means. The truth is: The government and the media interpret it as a banning of trans people from their chosen toilet.
What happens next is obvious. We’ll see more people and places banning trans people from single sex toilets. How they go about implementing that is a mystery.
Some foolish people believe that they can “always tell” if someone is trans or not, but the facts show that this is not the case. We’re already seeing an increasing number of non-trans women getting kicked out of toilets for not looking feminine enough. That’s only going to happen more and more. This ruling will harm all women, not just the trans ones.
It’s also— I can’t believe I’m having to spell this out, but there’s “survivorship bias” going on here. The only trans people you notice are the ones you notice(!). There are many more trans people that you don’t notice because they pass. Many trans people do not pass, and that’s okay. Some people don’t pass because passing is difficult, especially when access to healthcare is so restricted. Some people don’t pass because passing is bullshit and they know it’s good to be annoyingly visibly queer instead.
I’m in the second camp: I have no intention of “passing” or hiding the fact that I’m trans, but I increasingly find myself tempted to do so, purely as a safety precaution.
But no, I will never do that. I’d rather die than sacrifice being who I am.
It’s not just toilets. This also affects gyms, changing rooms, sports teams, hospital wards, clubs, prisons, and anything else that involves some—
At my annual checkup at the hospital, my doctor looked over her sunset glasses and told me I needed to do some more exercise, like swimming, to look after my joints, because— You know— Remember, I have psoriatic arthritis, which I developed due to stress at a time when I was—
“Yes, swimming would be good, because it helps all your joints, like the ones in your hands and—”
And I just laughed and she didn’t know why.
Back to the wikiblogardenite.