Why bother donning a dress? In NC if I’m followed into the woman’s room by some creep and I confront him, all he needs to tell me is that he’s transitioned from a woman and must use this facility. What am I gonna do, ask him to drop his pants and prove it?
Last I heard, he still had a vagina.
Maybe it’s time for this whole transgender bathroom issue to be added to Wikipedia’s page on “moral panic.”
Ok if he uses the facility - in any other state - he is not breaking the law.
If he lays hands on your or harasses you - in NC or any other state w/o these outrageous laws - he is breaking the law.
Do you feel safer now, armed with knowledge?
Even if you did, it wouldn’t prove anything. A transgendered man may have surgically-bestowed male genitalia while still having “female” recorded on his birth certificate.
Oh look, here’s the end result of bathroom panic:
Cops manhandle a woman out of the ladies’ toilet after refusing to believe she’s a woman
Now imagine if that had been a transman, he’d be screwed. Illegal to use the men’s room, forcibly removed from the ladies’. Choosing where to pee shouldn’t be so damn fraught.
And so it begins…
I said in the last post that I don’t know. I’d guess whichever bathroom is the least disruptive and upsetting to kids that see the person. There’s no hard and fast rule. It’s going to vary from person to person and what they look like. At least that’s my own interpretation of the law.
Again, imho these bathroom laws (in practical terms) will only apply when there’s been a formal call to police. They may not be able to make a lewd or sexual charge stick if the witnesses have already left the scene. But this law at least gets the perv off the street. The intent here is to separate the legitimate trans people from the pervs that are using this situation as an opportunity. Like a white guy blacking up his face and putting on a Afro wig to rob a bank. Trying to put the blame on an innocent group of people.
The police have better things to do than play bathroom monitor. Checking genitalia of every person that uses a public restroom. It’s going to take a serious 911 call for them to respond to a bathroom incident. Groping, sexual assault, masturbation, some kind of sex crime. Aren’t these exactly the types of crimes we want investigated and prosecuted?
The company I work for (not a gym) has a small workout area and locker/shower rooms that also are used as the toilets for that end of the building. 
But I know it’s not a common feature (this company also has a very liberal non-discrimination policy with includes trans rights). It wouldn’t bother me a bit if a trans woman was changing in the dressing area. That’s what it’s there for.
But, for the record, I regularly go to a local retreat center/campground that only has one large unisex bathhouse, so I see nekkid folks (including -gasp- their children!) taking care of their toilette all the time. The toilets are screened off by partitions with long curtains in the openings and there are two ‘private’ shower stalls next to the large open shower room in case someone needs room for their wheelchair or is shy about showering with strangers.
I have also used the men’s room in public places when the need was urgent and the line was long. Hilariously, it was always the gay men in the gay bars who were most shocked by it (and they weren’t even doing anything but using the urinals).
So I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t care what you are doing in the toilet, and I certainly hope no one cares what I’m doing, either.
So, judging people purely on what they look like is cool with you. Good to know. Not surprising.
Sorry there, Acey, but I’m not cool with leaving it up to local police to decide how and when to discriminate. We’ve tried that shit before, and it didn’t work out well for many groups.
Do you really want Officer Smith to be the one deciding if someone is a girl, a “legitimate trans person” (your language). Did you see the video in Kaio’s post a few above yours?
There are already laws against sexual assault, public indecency, etc. These "bathroom laws don’t help. They just introduce discrimination against a group that uptight conservative lawmakers find “icky”.
Some people get upset about the oddest things. Things that to most of us appear to be stupid. Someone might get upset that I do not wear an obvious cross, signifying that I worship Jesus Christ as my Saviour. We should not, however, give in to these people, and try to create the world that THEY WANT.
And what happens when a bigoted asshole calls police because he or she does not like the “Look” of a person who entered a washroom? Like a woman who is dressed in “male” looking clothes and is not wearing makeup? Then the police come and potentially haul her out of the washroom, and demand that she "PROVE that she’s really a woman. Good God. You really think that we should give that power to nasty bigots?
Yes, the police certainly do have better things to do with their time. But they are required to respond - even to bigoted asshole callers. And they will play bathroom monitor. Because a few bigoted assholes want to regulate what people wear, and what they look like.
These laws make us look like Saudi Arabia.
Are you aware of any evidence that this (sexual predators cross-dressing to gain access to bathrooms of the opposite gender) was a widespread problem before NC’s HB2 law came to be? Because I can point to evidence that it was NOT a widespread problem:
Moreover, the law definitely does not make the sort of distinction you describe; it just says that you have to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender on your birth certificate, regardless of what you’re wearing, what you look like, or what genitalia you currently possess.
You are flat goddam wrong about that. You’ve already been referred to Kaio’s post above for a video link. Just to make sure you don’t miss it, I’m reposting the same link right here, at which you’ll read about (and see) a woman being ejected from a woman’s bathroom for not looking enough like a woman.
Next time your mother, wife or daughter goes out on the town, make sure they pretty themselves up good and proper - a nice skirt, plenty of makeup, and a pair of fuck-me pumps - or they’ll be forced to pee in the men’s room.
Tennessee just dropped their law, thankfully. It’s been horrible for business in North Carolina, and other states are seeing that. Money will always trump “morality.”
Prior to this law:
“Hello police? There is a person in the washroom here who is trying to peep under the stalls at everyone. They’re acting creepy. They are not in the washroom for what it’s supposed to be for - I think they are in there for some kind of sexual purpose.”
“OK, we’ll send someone over right away”
After this law:
“Hello Police?? There is someone in the washroom here and I don’t think they look like the right gender. I have judged them using my specific personal morality, and they do not meet my personal approval of what a (man/woman) should dress, look or act like.”
“OK, we’ll send someone over to make sure that they dress/act/behave in a manner that you personally approve of.”
I’m sorry to hear that your safety is so threatened so often, TheFaerie. YOU DON’T EVEN SEEM TO KNOW IT! I wish there were laws to protect you. And the children.
I just hope that every woman who supports laws like these find themselves at a bar, concert, or sporting event with an empty men’s room and a long line for the ladies. It would be illegal for them to use the men’s room. Sadly, men are rarely caught in that situation. 
You do understand that these laws achieve the opposite effect? Under bathroom panic laws, a man can walk right into the ladies’ room, no dress needed. This man can lie and say he’s trans if challenged. Then what? Crotch check? Papers please? This law makes it easier for predators to get into the bathroom, not harder.
You may have noticed that we already have laws against these behaviors. So yes, clearly we do want this, because we have a system already in place to investigate and prosecute these crimes.
LOL. I don’t even think this deserves a response.
So I take it these crimes are not already illegal where you live? If a man follows a woman into the restroom and assaults her, the police would say “Sorry m’am, we don’t have a law that says a person with a penis is forbidden in the ladies room so we cannot arrest him for assault.”
So… exactly how it is now.
These laws are just so stupid and make so little sense even when looked at from a bigoted point of view that I just can’t believe anyone with a functioning brain doesn’t realize how dumb they are.
There is a problem that doesn’t exist. But if it did exist it would be bad. So we need a solution to that problem. The solution ends up causing the problem.