what transgender person, in the middle of transitioning say, would want to use a urinal in front of everyone, EVER? Or would use an open stall with their anatomy, that they are working to change, hanging out for all to see? And same goes for a female transitioning to a male - like she's gonna try to squat on a urinal instead of using a toilet in a stall? Ludicrous.

I am not very good maybe at putting this, but that just defies the logic of how any teenage or school age child who is already sensitive about their appearance would act! There are stalls in those bathrooms people, have they never been inside one? I believe even Men's rooms have stall doors for God's sake.

And I do get it's not really about the bathrooms, but that just shows that in this dumbed down place we call a country, there are people that think it really IS all about the bathrooms, and act like it is when they know damned well it is nothing of the kind.

While I don't think any child should be forced to do anything of that nature I don't think that is the case here.

And I do think even at a very young age many trans people realize or develop the feeling that they are not the correct physical gender for their biological body.

Granted, my views are based on the limited info I have to work with, only knowing one friend at that age that matched this criteria but she (now) is quite vocal about the point that she wishes she could have been open about it then.

If you have never had to do it, you might never understand, but having to hide who you truly are all the time to everyone can be physically and emotionally taxing, much more so than dealing with the negative repercussions now that we are just a bit more enlightened and I think that is why we see more young people being open about who they really feel they are.

Sure, it's gonna cause them drama and a lot of shit, but for many that is easier to deal with than living a false life.

I am certain that there are male/female parents that have taken their child to the Doctors because their girl child always acted like and kept saying that she was a boy or their boy child always acted like and said they were a girl. I know this is true because the Doctors collect and publish data and information on these visits.
If a lesbian couple or parent was pushing their boy child to be a girl or girl child to be a boy then YES that would be child abuse, that would be clearly a crime for the harm done to the child. And would most likely soon be discovered.
I didn't see any evidence either way in the essay or links, so you may have jumped the gun don'tcha think now, ya know, betcha maybe eh?
I'm glad Robyn posts Essays here. I know that there are humans born with extra parts, tails even! They are still human and should have the same basic human rights that we all have. Mom told me once that people with both sex parts never have to fuck themselves because the whole wide world was gonna fuck them all the time, all their lives.
I understand that trans-gender is different than that and I know that Doctors consider it a human reality and not a delusion. Enough so that sexual reassignment surgeries are allowed to occur. So, there must be more to it than crazy lesbians abusing children doncha think now, ya know, ya betcha maybe for sure eh?
BUT
I'm a little disappointed because the essay with the pic of a pretty person got double the normal replies so far.
I'm not disappointed with the author.

Edit/postscript: Totally agree with opposing that whole making kids look sexy thing in the media. And those pageants. WTF is wrong with people? Putting makeup on a 10 year old with the purpose of making her look sexier, as a job? WTF?

I don't get it.

Bathroom bills are a bad idea. Nobody will benefit from them except people who are invested in enforcing gender scripting, meaning specific presentations assigned to each biological sex. I swear, the more I read about this, the more I think sex-segregated men's bathrooms should all be made unisex on the grounds that they are currently unsafe spaces. Install tampon machines and put up signs saying "if you see someone who looks female, leave them alone." The bathroom arguments almost always seem to just take it for granted that men's bathrooms are places where people are at risk for being beaten up and that there isn't anything anybody can do about that. I say we invade.