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18 Buff. J. Gender L. & Soc. Pol'y 147 (2009-2010)
Transgender Bathroom Usage: A Privileging of Biology and Physical Difference in the Law

handle is hein.journals/bufwlj18 and id is 149 raw text is: TRANSGENDER BATHROOM USAGE: A PRIVILEGING OF BIOLOGY AND PHYSICAL DIFFERENCE IN THE LAW BY JILL D. WEINBERG* When Steven began teaching, he was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder1 (GID) and began transitioning from a male to a female. This process lasted from August 2000 until June 2003. During this time, Steven legally changed her name to Rebecca, presented as a female at work, and changed the sex designation on her driver's license to reflect her female identity. She had a number of cosmetic surgeries and ultimately, had sex reassignment surgery. This transformation never bothered the college until fall 2001 when students complained that a man was using the women's restroom. The college indicated that students expressed concerns regarding their privacy and/or safety and that the college had a compelling interest in protecting privacy rights of other individuals . . . by maintaining the sex-segregation of the restrooms.2 The college informed Rebecca that she could not use the women's restroom until she provided proof that she had sex reassignment surgery. Rebecca's story is not uncommon for transgender employees. One reason for such discomfort over transgender bathroom usage is the result of a legal and social landscape that has adopted a separate spheres ideology,3 in which the construction of sex segregated bathrooms and preoccupation with anatomical difference remain unchallenged. By this *PhD (student), Northwestern University; M.A., The University of Chicago; J.D., Seattle University School of Law. 1 The medical diagnosis refers to an individual who has a strong and persistent belief of having been born into the wrong body and a desire to live or be treated as the other sex. AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION, DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS, TEXT REVISION § 302.9 (4th ed. 1994). 2 Kastl v. Maricopa County Cmty. Coll. Dist., No. Civ. 021531 PHXSRB, 2006 WL 820955 (D. Ariz. June 3, 2004) (Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment). 3 See Terry S. Kogan, Sex-Separation in Public Restrooms: Law, Architecture & Gender, 14 MICH. J. GENDER & L. 1, 5-6 (2007).

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