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Amid the national uproar over bathroom ban laws earlier this year, more than 300 of the nation’s leading sexual assault and domestic violence prevention organizations released a statement calling for an end to legislation that harms transgender people and excludes them from restrooms and other facilities. They wrote:
“States across the country have introduced harmful legislation or initiatives that seek to repeal non-discrimination protections or restrict transgender people’s access to gender-specific facilities like restrooms. Those who are pushing these proposals have claimed that these proposals are necessary for public safety and to prevent sexual violence against women and children. As rape crisis centers, shelters, and other service providers who work each and every day to meet the needs of all survivors and reduce sexual assault and domestic violence throughout society, we speak from experience and expertise when we state that these claims are false.
“Nondiscrimination laws do not allow men to go into women’s restrooms—period. The claim that allowing transgender people to use the facilities that match the gender they live every day allows men into women’s bathrooms or women into men’s is based either on a flawed understanding of what it means to be transgender or a misrepresentation of the law.”
“As advocates committed to ending sexual assault and domestic violence of every kind, we will never support any law or policy that could put anyone at greater risk for assault or harassment. That is why we are able to strongly support transgender- inclusive nondiscrimination protections—and why we oppose any law that would jeopardize the safety of transgender people by forcing them into restrooms that do not align with the gender they live every day.”
For the full statement and to see the entire list of supporting organizations, visit the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence website here.
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“As the largest sexual assault organization in the country, with member organizations throughout the entire country, we can tell you that laws that give transgender people the right to use the correct restroom do not put women and children at additional risk of assault. If they did, we would scream from the rooftops! Instead, we see that there are no increases in incidents in places that pass these laws.”
-Monika Johnson Hostler, President of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence |
