Fear keeps us from learning about each other

There is a lot of talk, some of it emotionally charged, these days about where people are allowed to go to the bathroom.

This talk is focused on transgender individuals, people who are born physically of one sex yet identify as the other. It’s a confusing subject since most of us likely don’t know anyone who is transgender. Because of that, it’s a subject where fear can have a heavy influence.

None of us on the Cheney Free Press editorial board knows someone who is transgender. Some of us have been in the proximity of people who are transvestites, but the two are not related.

Some of us on the editorial board know people who are gay or lesbian. Transgenders are consolidated into this group, i.e. the acronym LGBT (B is for bisexual), but again, they are not really related.

In a May 13 opinion column on the Baptist News Global website, writer Mark Wingfield notes the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, writing that “Sexual orientation is about whom we feel an attraction to and want to mate with, gender identity is about whether we identify as male or female.”

Wingfield brings up some physical reasons surrounding this, and we invite you to read his piece and do your own research.

The issue of transgender individuals using the bathroom of the sex they identify with involves these points, but it really centers on fear — fear of sexual violence. It’s a fear that links transgenders to pedophiles.

It was the fear of sexual violence North Carolina legislators cited in passing House Bill 2 that nullified some local laws passed to protect transgender individuals, including using the bathroom that conforms to their gender identity. But when asked on various cable news shows to point to specific incidents or statistics backing up these claims, N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory and other state politicians admitted they didn’t have any.

An Internet search doesn’t produce much better results. The search, however, did turn up a number of statistics about sexual violence, including violence against gays, lesbians and transgenders and about pedophiles.

Regarding the latter, research shows the “average” pedophile as someone known to the victim, male, sometimes a man with standing in the community such as a teacher, religious or club leader, married and heterosexual. Some research indicates about 30 percent of pedophiles exhibit homosexual “tendencies,” which is not necessarily saying they are gay.

None of the research we were able to find linked transgender to pedophilia. A 2009 study did reveal that approximately 50 percent of transgender individuals are the recipients of sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.

Studies indicate eight out of 10 rape victims know the person who assaulted them, including female and male victims. Other studies show 80 percent of people with disabilities are sexually assaulted, frequently by their primary caregiver.

One in 10 transgender individuals have been assaulted in a healthcare setting. And, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer people were three times more likely in 2010 to report sexual violence or harassment compared to heterosexual individuals.

Unfortunately, there are many more studies and statistics pointing to how real the reality of sexual violence is. But most show sexual violence is often perpetrated by the familiar, rather than the unfamiliar. And yet, some people hate — and fear — that which they know little about.

There are many things about people we don’t know and sometimes can’t identify with — age, sex, race, education, politics, religion and background, for starters. Those differences don’t mean we have to hate each other and refuse to coexist.

Fear of the unknown often stems from ignorance. The solution then would be to overcome ignorance, and hence fear, by education through exposure to the unknown.

With sexual orientation and gender identity that education might start with the acknowledgement that we can’t choose certain traits, and therefore we are all created for a reason. In his column, Wingfield writes he is learning about transgender issues “in part because I want to understand the way God has made us.”

And if you believe God made us, then it might be wise to also acknowledge that we should treat others the same way we wish to be treated — even when it comes to using the bathroom.