New gender identity laws making their way through California’s legislature are being celebrated by the LGBT community, but outraging parents.
The laws, Senate Bill 323 and Assembly Bill 1266, would require schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and participate on sports teams which match their gender identity.
All youth sports in California schools would allow students to play on whatever team they felt appropriately matched their gender expression. Girls in an elementary school might see a boy using the stall next to them, or changing in their locker room.
The organization backing the bill is the Transgender Law Service, and their cause is rooted in more fully removing gender discrimination in the state.
“Transgender boys are boys, and transgender girls are girls, and this bill ensures they are treated as such,” said Masen Davis, the executive director of TLS.
Opponents say the bill is extreme, and the potential ramifications of letting boys and girls shower and use the same restrooms are controversial.
But in Thailand, a similar situation evokes the national motto: “mai pen rai” — meaning “no problem” or “no worries.”
A Thai school in the northeastern part of the country has built “transgender toilets,” which feature a unique icon of a half woman (in pink), half man (in blue, of course) on the door. Beneath the label reads “Transvestite Toilets.”
The toilets were an initiative at Kampang School after transgender students complained they didn’t have a bathroom that felt accepted them. The school’s director, Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that between 10% and 20% of his male students consider themselves to be transgender, the BBC reports.
“They used to be teased every time they used the boys’ toilets, so they started using the girls’ toilets instead,” said Sitisak. “But that made the girls feel uncomfortable. It made these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work.”
The country’s tolerance for not only the LGBT community is well-known and quite obvious in Thai society.
While California is quite liberal, and has made extensive initiatives to gain equality for the LGBT community, it doesn’t match the social mores already in place in Thailand.
Related texts: Transsexuals and Thai Law
Legal Rights of Transgenders in Thai Law
Related blog posts: Transgender News (January 2013)
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