Transgender: Don't trivialize people's concerns

I have been following the very thoughtful exchanges of letters and opinion pieces about the rights of transgender people to use the public bathrooms and changing rooms of their choice and the rights of other people to be safe and to have their privacy protected in those very same spaces.

Sadly, left ignored or ridiculed is the very critical question: How do we know that a person is transgender and not a predator? Does the owner of the space have any responsibility to check? How about the person claiming to be transgender? Or can anyone make the claim and then just walk right in?

And what happens, for example, if an anatomical male walks into a woman’s bathroom? Does a woman risk a lawsuit if she dares to speak up?

Our elected officials and the transgender community have an obligation to cease trivializing violence against women and to start respecting the privacy rights of all people. Providing answers to these questions will go a long way to helping us all understand and welcome our transgender members of the community.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Transgender: Don't trivialize people's concerns."