I’ve just got back from a lovely weekend in Nottingham where I didn’t think about work, the news or social media for four days. I went with my new boyfriend. It was hot and I wore summer dresses most of the time. Not once did I feel as if anyone perceived me as trans.
I’m lucky. My family accepts me as a girl. My mum welcomed me as her daughter. My heterosexual boyfriend accepts me as a woman. In shops, I was “Miss” or “Madam.” And none of this was done in a patronising or insincere way. For one hot, long weekend I enjoyed my passing privilege: the privilege to walk about “undetected.” Back in London, I logged on and saw people posting on blogs about North Carolina and the anti-trans bathroom laws in America.
There hasn’t been a single case of a trans woman using public facilities such as changing rooms or toilets to abuse another woman. There may have been a handful of men invading women-only spaces for sinister reasons, but a couple of rogue perverts seem an odd reason for discriminating against the entire trans community. Well, I say entire. The truth is, people with passing privilege — including me — will continue to use the toilets that they feel are appropriate for them.