Bathroom war is still on-going in United States as more transgender students fight for equality in bathroom use in schools.
For Nate Quinn, a 17-year old transgender student from Florida, using the bathroom everyday is a challenge for him. He was banned from using the boys' restroom where he felt he belonged. He stopped using the girls' restroom as his presence would cause screams to the other users. Quinn is female at birth but male is his sexual preference.
Quinn was even bullied because of this, resulting to suicidal thoughts. He started organizing protests early this year and won the rights to use the male bathroom sometime in January. "It was very uncomfortable for me and all of the second grade girls in there," Quinn said, according to Reuters. "I didn't need that happening every time I would go to the bathroom."
In an article by Yahoo, Quinn requested before to be allowed to use the boys' bathroom, however, his request was rejected by Pine View School officials. He had testosterone therapy which caused his deep voice. His driver's license even specified his gender as male. Since then, he began to use the male restroom in school. However, the school officials found out and offered him to use the neutral single-user bathroom. Quinn felt discriminated at this point. He then avoided to use the bathroom, pointing to his teachers that he would miss some parts of his class just walking around the campus just to use the restroom.
Quinn's case is just one of the many cases about transgender rights in terms of bathroom use. According to Raw Story, North Carolina recently adopted a law wherein transgender individuals should use the bathroom according to their sex at birth and not according to their sexual preference or identity. Such law sparked anger to the LGBT community as it discriminates them. Aside from LGBT individuals, big companies and famous entertainers expressed their anger towards the law. PayPal Holdings and Deutsche Bank did not push through with their projects in North Carolina that would have open more jobs to people. Famous entertainers such as Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Cirque du Soleil cancelled their engagements because of the regulation.
The retailer giant, Target, who has 49 stores in North Carolina is a vocal supporter of LGBT rights from the start. To express their support to transgenders, the retailer shop announced that they will allow their transgender workers and customers to use any bathroom of their choice.
