# How do you enforce bathroom gender laws without checking IDs and/or genitals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 25, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121 "2016-04-25T20:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/1 "2016-04-25T20:38:42Z")
Several people arguing in favor of the various bathroom bills or their versions have stated that they don’t favor forcing people to show ID to use the restroom or having someone check their genitals. Yet I don’t see how you can actually enforce who uses which bathroom without Id or geniatal checks. Such things are bad on their face, but also run afoul of being discriminatorily enforced - the butch woman is going to get hassled for ID, while a woman who dresses in dresses is much less likely to, for example. Do any proponents of such things actually have a practical, workable solution to determining which bathroom a person belongs in? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/2 "2016-04-25T20:51:18Z")
IDs _or_ genital checks? I say we tattoo barcodes on all genitals! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/3 "2016-04-25T20:55:01Z")
Arrest them all, let God sort it out. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/4 "2016-04-25T20:56:48Z")
How do you enforce bathroom gender laws without checking IDs and/or genitals? You **don’t**. The people passing these laws know quite well that they are not enforceable. . ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/5 "2016-04-25T23:23:40Z")
> [@andros](#): > > How do you enforce bathroom gender laws without checking IDs and/or genitals? > > You **don’t**. The people passing these laws know quite well that they are not enforceable. > . Yea, this was just a political move, using the legal system as the vehicle to “send a message” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/6 "2016-04-25T23:28:29Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Yea, this was just a political move, using the legal system as the vehicle to “send a message” Truly a dick move. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/7 "2016-04-26T02:31:32Z")
Checking genitals wouldn’t accomplish anything, since the laws are written to require people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender assigned at birth, so, say, a post-surgical transwoman is still supposed to use the men’s room. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/8 "2016-04-26T02:37:26Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Truly a dick move. You got a million of em, I tells ya. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/9 "2016-04-26T02:37:43Z")
Since they can chip dogs it should be easy to chip people. Do it at birth before any unmentionable bits get messed around with. Could even have locks on bathroom doors triggered by the chips! Just joking! Just joking! ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/10 "2016-04-26T02:38:00Z")
Lets get TSA\* involved - if anyone can do Security Theatre, they can. \*Transgender Search Authority ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/11 "2016-04-26T02:38:28Z")
Will this last long enough to be a wedge issue, encouraging 'phobes to the polls as gay marriage did? ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/12 "2016-04-26T02:41:02Z")
This would seem to be a situation just begging for hilarious civil disobedience. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/13 "2016-04-26T02:55:06Z")
It’s also really, really going to suck for people misassigned at birth-- people whose genitals look like the opposite sex of both their internal organs and genetic sex (although, I understand they can get their birth certificate reissued), and if it ever comes down to a DNA test, women with androgen insensitivity syndrome, women who look, feel like, and have been raised as girls, then women, but have testes (which are usually removed when the condition is discovered, to avoid them becoming cancerous), because they lack, or have insensitive testosterone receptors. Gender just isn’t as binary as people think, and people need to use the bathroom that suits them, even if it’s the one that doesn’t get them beat up. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/14 "2016-04-26T02:56:25Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > This would seem to be a situation just begging for hilarious civil disobedience. +1 I’ll be happy to use a men’s room to strike a blow for individual freedom. Easiest activism ever. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/15 "2016-04-26T02:59:22Z")
Peeing on the floor outside the doors while you stand there utterly confused seems to be the best option. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/16 "2016-04-26T03:00:41Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Gender just isn’t as binary as people think, and people need to use the bathroom that suits them, even if it’s the one that doesn’t get them beat up. People prone to violence against trans men/women probably wouldn’t give one fuck as to whether the trans _person_ in “their” bathroom are technically men or women. I think they’d see them all in the same light. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/17 "2016-04-26T03:06:00Z")
It’s an issue for people in the workplace, or anyplace they are already well known. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/18 "2016-04-26T03:08:26Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’ll be happy to use a men’s room to strike a blow for individual freedom. Easiest activism ever. Don’t be too cocksure (see what I did there?) before having experienced the environment in question. I hear from folks like **watchwolf49** and **octopus** that said men’s rooms are foul noisome swamps brimming with excreta in inappropriate places. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/19 "2016-04-26T03:08:34Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > People prone to violence against trans men/women probably wouldn’t give one fuck as to whether the trans _person_ in “their” bathroom are technically men or women. I think they’d see them all in the same light. What I meant was, you should be allowed to choose whatever bathroom you want, no matter what your reason, even if your reason is “I don’t get beat up here.” If a petite, effeminate gay man tends to get beat up in the men’s room, and want to use the women’s room, he should. Even if he fully identifies as male, and looks it. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121/20 "2016-04-26T03:14:07Z")
> [@](#): > > People prone to violence against trans men/women should be arrested. Why are we making laws that victimize the victims? the problem is not the transgender people. You attack someone, you get arrested. Very simple. No need for ID or gender checks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-enforce-bathroom-gender-laws-without-checking-ids-and-or-genitals/753121.md?page=2)