Planet Fitness drops member after gender identity complaint: "Not knowing why the man was in the women's locker room, she immediately complained to the front desk. 'They told me that he was allowed in there because that's the sex he wants to be'"

The biological female in this story has simply asked for the same thing as the transwoman: to have her femaleness respected, by being allowed to change in an area separate from men.

The original reason for separation of biological sexes in such settings is to avoid the risk or appearance of impropriety with regards to parentage of children, but it has come to be associated with gender, not just biological sex.

By identifying as female and wishing to use the female locker room, the transwoman in this story is acknowledging gender and is acknowledging that she herself does not consider it appropriate for men and women to share a locker room.

You have rationalized that the transwomen in this and other scenarios have a right to be offended and humiliated when forced into inappropriate interactions with the opposite gender, because they were raised in a society where gender exists.

You are holding transwomen on up as innocent victims of society while blaming non-transwomen for being just as attached to their own gender identities and transwomen are to theirs.

The non-transwoman was also raised in the same society where gender exists, and has just as much right to be offended when her gender identity is challenged.

"Anyone who claims to be, is." Is far too lose a definition for any identity and runs the risk of trivializing that identity for people who have a legitimate claim to it.

Most Hindus in India are Indian. At many temples in India, if you try to enter and do not look like a Hindu, you may be asked to provide documentation to prove you are a Hindu or leave. It is not society's fault if you were born into the wrong religion for you, and if it is really that important to you, you will take the extra steps necessary to prove you are Hindu, as many non-Indian devotees do.

We need similar formally recognized definitions and procedures for those who are legitimately transgender, so that the identity doesn't become diluted by people claiming to be what they're not, and so that everyone's gender identity can be properly respected.

And phrases like "bigotry" and "discrimination" are most aptly applied to atrocities like slavery, the holocaust and colonial occupation. That such phrases are being bastardized to apply to situations where a person says "I want the right to choose which people I separate myself from when I undress, and I don't think anyone else should have that right", is hypocritical and despicable.

/r/news Thread Link - nem.com