I really don't have any words about this story. It's just so deeply upsetting. Fuck the women who decided to police the bathroom and fuck the guard for doing this.
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Also, a blanket policy that two adults can’t be in the same stall (which I don’t believe they were) is an ADA violation. There would need to be a disabled person who was harmed in order for it to be actionable, but just stating that policy should warrant a visit from the city disability office.
And believe me, after a lifetime of helping a disabled parents and grandparents: that is not a fun place to be, and it's awful when there's not enough room to maneuver safely. Scary as hell when you've got someone who's partially paralyzed, too.
Also also, it bears mentioning that Massachusetts sex selection on IDs and birth certificates is based on self-attestation, and we have laws that people can use the restroom that best matches their gender identity. Unsure how this security guard thinks IDs play into restroom use at all.
Call or email them. Posting means nothing. They do not see it, will never act on it. That's just a pr account, posting press releases. Only tag sarcastically. Contact through real means for real action.
"MA hate crimes have hit a 20-year high...For gender nonconforming, lesbians, women in general, being harassed in public restrooms is a tale as old as time. I do think the surge in national anti-trans rhetoric is contributing to an increased policing of women's bodies and their expression of gender"
Meanwhile my presence in bathrooms and locker rooms has never once come into question and likely never will. If this ongoing situation wasn’t so grossly upsetting it would be comical.
It should also be noted that, if this woman *had* been a trans man, the laws being pushed by the right would force him into the women's bathroom exactly as they're all clutching their pearls about here. Though of course the object is simply to make trans people afraid to exist in public.
The ruling in the UK has resulted in even worse outcomes. I was reading an account of a trans women turned away from the women’s room and then turned away from the men’s room right after by the same manager. It isn’t just fear of existing in public, it’s outright exclusion.
The way the ruling works is it denies both ends for all trans people. So no, trans men aren’t the gotcha because all of us would be banned in both. They say establishments should decide as denying all bathrooms is bad but in practice so far it’s been no entry allowed at all.
People weirdly converge 'Boston' in their minds with places like Northampton and Middlebury, VT. It's still a city filled to the brim with werido bigots.
When I complain to places (usually healthcare facilities, sometimes state agencies) about their bigoted treatment of my disabled trans teen, their response is usually to feed me some line about it didn’t happen because people here don’t have those kinds of attitudes. Ha. Haha. Ha.
Often they spout things about how Boston/MA/their facility was one of the first places to have inclusive policies or whatever. OK, great, but this area is also notorious for such things being suggestions and fodder for smugness, not actually things that are implemented.
And at the exact same time, the TERFs are pushing the incredibly dishonest framing that trans men are threatening the very existence of butch lesbians, for whom the TERFs are speaking up. And, giant surprise I know, here's where that lie leads.
And to be clear, you have to cause a scene. "I'm going to have your job! Get the fucking manager right now! I'm going to sue you and this hotel into oblivion!"
Remember security guards are wanna be cops, who couldn't even get over the low hurdle to be that.
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Sociopathic.
trans women are women
Rainbow capitalism at its finest.
(The irony of the old Charles St Jail turning into the Liberty Hotel is not lost on me…).
But you're right, this is the whole point: to make trans folks afraid to be out in public. Even in places like Boston.
But yes, Boston has plenty of bigotry of all kinds, as do many of the surrounding communities (looking at you South Shore)
When I complain to places (usually healthcare facilities, sometimes state agencies) about their bigoted treatment of my disabled trans teen, their response is usually to feed me some line about it didn’t happen because people here don’t have those kinds of attitudes. Ha. Haha. Ha.
Ewww that is so creepy
Remember security guards are wanna be cops, who couldn't even get over the low hurdle to be that.