Posting this on The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia may be a red flag to some, but this has been something I wanted to update my view on for a while. I have posted my views on this before and I am aware that many will consider me to be transphobic for my views.
Part of my views are based, not on discrimination against those who are trans, but rather based on safeguarding. My job role involves this, and I have encountered predators both in a personal as well as professional role. Put simply, I have few concerns that someone who is trans is going to assault others, specifically, I have few concerns that someone with a penis who is a genuine transwoman, is to assault a biological woman in a safe space. This is despite having treated someone who identifies as a woman, who did sexually assault women (they were in secure accommodation to control that risk). I am more concerned that men who wish to sexually assault women or worse, will use the rules to self identify to gain legitimate access to safe spaces and carry out assaults.
Some have called for a risk based system on this, thereby preventing those guilty of assault and rape from having access to the women they have assaulted. But that forgets the discrepancy between the number of assaults that are alleged to have taken place, and those who are found guilty.
Another reason for my view that spaces should be genitalia based are as there is an argument that there are a hundred genders. Not everyone identifies as female or male. Restricting safe spaces to male or female forces them to make a choice, but having the option to have this based on genitalia is a simple (and if needed, verifiable) method. Ideally, people should have the option of using unisex spaces, but not everywhere has the ability to cater for that.
I do not agree with everything that JK Rowling has said on this, but I do agree with most of what she has said. I am still sad that my children, who have called her a transphobe, have yet to read what she has written about her views. However, that does include that there is an issue those born with the genitalia different to the gender they end up identifying with. Working in healthcare, certain things are affected by sex, an example being how eGFR is calculated. Not allowing for this means that some people may be over investigated for issues that they may not have, or worse, people may not be investigated for issues that they do have.
