Larry Craig’s not the only person getting nabbed in the toilet. Seattle’s Pacific Place came under fire earlier this week after a security guard booted two male-to-female female-to-male trannies from the men’s loo.
Two transgender individuals attending a weekend conference in Seattle were kicked out of a men’s bathroom at Pacific Place and then ejected from the downtown mall in what could become a significant test involving transgender people under the state’s year-old gay-rights law.
…
“I don’t think straight people can truly understand the gravity of what this means emotionally,” said Sean, one of the two. He and the other man, his friend Simon, both asked that their last names not be used.“Peeing is basic,” Sean said. “Anyone who feels a need to use a bathroom should be able to do so without someone rapping on the stall while your pants are down around your ankle.”
Too true.
The brouhaha started when Sean and Simon went into the women’s room to do their tinkle thing. Another denizen apparently objected to their presence and sounded the alarm. Security then came to remove them. The move, of course, violates Washington State’s discrimination laws, which include gender identity.
In light of this law, Sean and Simon say they plan on filing an official complaint against the Pacific Place mall. The mall, however, denies they were booted for their gender identity. Spokeswoman Lynn Beck alleges the women were causing a disturbance. They certainly did when they staged a pee-in on Labor day. Sean, Simon and about 40 trans activists who had gathered for the Gender Odyssey Conference marched on the mall and peed to protest the anti-trans booting.
Talk about making a mark!
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
[Note: You’ll notice we changed MTF to FTM. We were misinformed by our source. Sorry for the confusion. As for your note, reader Kim, if you can’t laugh a little, you’ll have to cry. Wouldn’t you rather laugh? We would.]
kim
Get the story right. It was two transmen (ftm) who were evicted from the men’s room, as it says in the quoted part, not two transwomen (mtf) evicted from the women’s room.
You should know that many trans people find the word “trannie” (or “tranny”) to be offensive, just as the f-word offends many gay men. If an individual chooses to describe themselves with that word, that’s their right, but you shouldn’t apply it thoughtlessly to people you don’t know.
Phrases such as “toilet trauma” and “do their tinkle thing” belittle the situation. Urination, as we all know, can be an urgent biological necessity. I don’t imagine you’d refer to a desperately hungry person as wanting to “do their snacky thing”, or would you?
You state, “Spokeswoman Lynn Beck alleges the women were causing a disturbance.” In fact, Sean and Simon identify as men, and should be respectfully referred to as such.
Your flippant tone and sloppy writing is counterproductive to the advance of basic human rights.
Mr. B
Thanks, Kim. I know they think they’re being cute and that as queers they have the right to throw the word tranny around, but that word sucks on so many levels. I mean, hell, before someone goes calling the PC police I’m not very sensitive about language, but that particular term is flippant at best and, I think, trivializes trans people’s experiences. Transgender does not equal drag queen. There’s a difference between being the PC police and being really annoyed when people who don’t share in a certain experience use derogatory terms pertaining to it. Especially when said people seem to think the whole thing is a game.
And yeah, it says right in the article that they were booted from the MEN’S room, and their names are Sean and Simon. I know “transgender” doesn’t mean just one thing, but…yeah. Some more careful reading would do.
kim
Yes, I’d rather laugh, but I don’t share your amusement at someone else’s hardship. A little respect and solidarity for fellow oppressed people would be appropriate, even if their burden isn’t the same as yours.
Is there any other marginalized, oppressed class that you’d say “you’ll have to cry” to? Or is it just trans people? If it isn’t ok for straight people to gay-bash in the media and popular culture, why is belittling and insulting trans people ok?
T-Girl
Okay Kim and Mr. B, chill guys.
I’m a Seattlite, an MTF and I stopped by the Gender Odyssey Conference to see what was up (before I knew anything about what happend at the mall).
In short, I have *a* perspective on what happened here and while I think it was a drag (I had my not-so-fun humiliations around bathroom incidences during my own transition) it really isn’t the end of the world. In fact, save for the humiliation and angst the event caused for our brothers, Sean and Simon, I’m really glad it happened. To be honest, I’ve sort of been hoping it would happen to me. (I still carry my own grudge against all the people who glared at me -and sometimes still do- *wherever* I’m at and I’d love it if some a**h*** security cop nabbed me in the women’s room for being a guy in there and after I created a rucus of protest got to see the looks on their faces when I was able to prove I was indeed in the right bathroom. To say nothing of the law suit I would be juggling in front of their reddened faces.)
Anyway, what’s good about this is the fact that this will indeed test Seattle’s, King County’s and Washington state’s laws which call for prohibition on any kind of discrimination against us in public housing, accommodations, and jobs.
LET’S PUSH THE ENVELOPE! Let’s ALL push the damn thing and not take this BS anymore. It’s going to take these exact kinds of events for that to happen. Get mad, hell yes, but get mad at the right people.
And as for using the “tranny” word, again… chill, hon. I refer to myself and others as trannies just like African American people often refer to and call each other the infamous N-word. So what? I don’t know about you but I’ve paid my dues and as far as I’m concerned I have the RIGHT to use the word. It isn’t meant disrespectfully because it includes me and I don’t bach myself. I am not, however, beyone laughing at myself.
Let’s not be fighting amongst ourselves in the GLBT community, let’s laugh with each other and stand together against the morons who try to control our lives with their fear and ignorance.
Peace.
T-Girl
PS – This whole bathroom issue would be solved once and for all if everyone just took down the “men” and “women” signs and instead put a picture of a penis on one door and a vagina on the other.
That I would LOVE to see!
kim
This isn’t a flame war, and i’m not going after anyone as individuals. I just think a little more respect is in order, that’s all. And yes, if you want to call yourself a tranny or whatever, that’s entirely up to you, you have that right, but please don’t assume that other trans people will be cool with that (some will, some won’t).
By the way, i hope you do realize that putting pictures of genitals on the doors wouldn’t work either. Biological sex isn’t that simple.
hisurfer
Queerty is flippant about everything. They like their puns and little jokes. I like it that way, as long as the stories are presented fairly. As do you, Kim – I think; after all, you and I are here, and not on some dry queer-theory discussion forum. I’d hate it if they started respecting us all of a sudden. Really.
hisurfer
D’oh – peeing! Surprisingly, a lot of municipalities have ordinances requiring separate male and female toilets in workplaces and public buildings. It will take protests and lawsuits to make the laws address it. And so this group had a Pee-In!!! It’s great, but how can you not joke about that?
Mr. B
Oh, I normally let about 95% of the glib crap they say roll off my back. Like Hisurfer mentioned, hey, I keep coming back and reading this blog.
I just hate the term “tranny,” is all. Moreover, I get really annoyed when an L or G or B person thinks s/he has the right to “claim” another group and make light of it. Queerty doesn’t trans-bash, but they do, more often than not, make it seem like a joke.
And anyway, my main beef is with the shoddy reporting. It wasn’t that hard to see that the two individuals in question were on the FTM side of things, not the reverse. And if you’re not sure, take the MSM’s easy way out and just say “transgender individuals” and avoid pronoun use.
T-Girl, I think the point is not that Kim or I want to fight amongst ourselves in the LGBT community, it’s that just as often other people do it for us.
eagledancer4444
Within the FTM community, I’m described as a “gender variant male,’ which means I’m not a Transman, but I’m also not a standard male by Dominant Culture standards. I’m American Indian, which in my case, also means long haired and smooth…no Adams’s apple. One year I was in SF, to interview Lou Sullivan, one of the “pioneer†FTMs. I was with a friend of mine from Amsterdam, who was doing his Ph.D. dissertation on Transsexuals who identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual after their Sex Reassignment Surgery and hormone treatment. Like some Transmen, Lou identified as gay. We met Lou at the MCC building where there was a support group for FTMs. I was asked when I had started hormones. I replied “at puberty.†I’ve been very involved in the Trans community, and have dated a Transman. A few years ago I was in D.C. to keynote a True Spirit conference for FTMs. I was delighted to notice that when you registered, there were over 20 different categories for gender, along with a space to add your own if you weren’t satisfied with the ones provided. The FTM community is one that’s really done amazing and creative things in terms of exploring gender in multiple ways. I did not have an opportunity to check in at the Gender Odyssey conference the gentlemen in the article were attending, but I’m sorry I missed the “pee-in.†One final note—I was at one of the restaurants in Minneapolis I try to hit when I’m in town, and went to use the restroom. Because of my perceived androgyny, I’m always wary when using a public restroom, with a lifetime of negative experiences. I went to where I had always gone for the men’s room, and stopped, confused by the signage. I thought my contacts might be a bit fogged. When I looked more closely, the iconic Male/Female graphics of the standing man and the standing woman in a “skirt†had been split and fused—the “Male†on the left, and the “Female†on the right combined into one figure, which when I glanced at it, looked as if a wind had blown the skirt to the right side. It was a result of a city ordinance to create “unisex†public restrooms.
Incidentally, there was a Dutch judge on the world court who pointed out gender was first used for identification by Napoleon, and it was specifically around conscription into military service. Remember, individuals were addressed as “citizens†rather than by a gendered term. The judge suggested that gender be removed as a legal identity, which would have immediate impact on Same-Sex marriage (or adoption issues), since it would be an issue (like California is trying go do) of seeing a marriage between “two persons.â€
Mr. B
Wow, Eagledancer, you interviewed the late Lou Sullivan?
More power to you, on all fronts. 🙂
eagledancer4444
Thanks Mr. B. Lou was a terrific person, and is greatly missed. My one regret is to have never kissed Jamie Green back in the day, but he was only interested in females…