Last week, Thursday March 31, was the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). Visibility may seem like a strange thing to celebrate – why not justice? Anti-transphobia? Transgender rights?
Well, all of these things are tied to visibility, and while visibility may not equate to justice or rights, it’s an important step in the right direction. Given the current climate around the world, baby steps seem like the best option.
In the past month, the American states of North Carolina and Kansas have passed laws that state transgender people must use the bathroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificate, and in Kansas, people who witness a trans person in the ‘wrong’ bathroom can sue their school for US$2,500 in ‘damages’.
These ridiculous laws defy all logic, but they also suggest that the lawmakers in these states are probably not aware what transgender even is. Firstly, the laws appear to be responding to a problem that doesn’t exist. Apparently they’re in place to protect women from men pretending to be transgender, and entering the bathroom to attack them.
There’s no secret password on the door of the bathroom, guys. If a man wants to go in and attack a woman, there’s nothing stopping him.
What’s more damaging about these laws is that they see transgender people as inherently a threat. As though the daily trauma of having to assess where you are, how you look, what the other people around you are like – all while holding a full bladder as you decide which bathroom you’re less likely to be accosted in – isn’t enough, now the lawmakers of your state view you as a threat.
These laws also create even more tension around the politics of ‘passing’ (looking like the gender you are). You may have seen the stories of passing trans guys using the women’s bathrooms. I read one about a guy, who has ‘female’ on his birth certificate, walking into the bathroom he is now legally supposed to use, only to be accosted for being in the ‘wrong’ bathroom. As a passing trans guy, to abide by the law is to fulfil what the law is trying to prevent. And of course, those who don’t pass have to face the fact that the binary world we live in doesn’t accept them for who they are, and that apparently someone else seeing them in the bathroom they want to be in is enough trauma for that person to be paid $2,500. As though transgender people aren’t vilified, ridiculed and murdered every day.
These laws are draconian, and you might think that at least in Australia, it’s not like that. Sure, we don’t have laws like this, but that doesn’t mean the same vilification doesn’t happen regularly. In 2013, the National Union of Students’ Queer Department created a sticker campaign to reduce the stigma of transgender people using the bathroom of their gender. “I’m here to pee, not to be gender stereotyped,” the stickers read. Around the University of Sydney, they were routinely torn down, scribbled over, erased.
Last week, on TDOV, students at the University of Sydney were marching to show their visibility. And they were followed, and harassed, by campus security. For walking across campus holding banners.
Visibility isn’t justice. But it’s a good start. If you see someone sporting a beard and a dress, it’s not your job to make assumptions about their gender. Why on Earth does their gender matter to you? If that same person walks into the bathroom and uses the stall next to you, why is it your job to say something? To stare? To laugh?
Chances are, that person had to think long and hard about what to wear that day. How much they could cope with the staring, the laughing, the odd remarks. They were probably feeling good about themselves when they woke up and put on that dress. Maybe they felt comfy. Sexy. Happy.
They felt brave enough to be visible today. Don’t take that away from them.
This Week…
This Wednesday April 6 is the second instalment of DNA’s Sydney Male Model search at The Shift, where they’re looking for Sydney’s hottest man (whatever that may be). It’s hosted by a drag queen puppet, Queen Miss Left Titter, so it should be fun (and hopefully not all cis and white).
Then on Friday April 8, Girlthing is hosting its annual jelly wrestling comp at the Metro Lair. Hosted by Marzi Panne, the event kicks off at 10pm, with the dancefloor commencing by midnight, with all the regular Girlthing players.
