Elie Wiesel, poet and Holocaust survivor, wrote, “Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.” Currently, transgender youth are suffering. Transgender youth are victims of sexual violence, assault and bullying with one out of three reported being harmed. It is devastating to see the Mat-Su school officials will no longer allow transgender students to choose bathrooms that match their identity. The Mat-Su school board has made a decision that will increase the victimization of trans youth rather than protect these youths from suffering. Policies like these hurt trans youth, hurt the community, and reject deeply important Jewish values.
Bathroom bans are dangerous. Youths who are denied access to the bathroom where they feel safe may instead avoid using the bathroom altogether, resulting in urinary tract infections and increased risks of anxiety, clinical depression and other mental health impacts. LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their non-LGBTQ peers because of societal mistreatment, and policies like bathroom bans sanction the exclusion, bullying and violence against trans youth and send a message to the community at large that trans people are neither welcome nor safe.
Policing bathroom use affects everyone. There is no singular way to look or dress like a man or woman. Under this policy, people who don’t fit an idealized view of gender are in danger of being harassed out of public spaces. It would be reprehensible to create a world where children are stopped at the door of a restroom and asked to justify their gender in order to pee. Policies like trans bathroom bans are often couched in language of “protection” against an imagined danger, but their enforcement results in actual harm to youth.
This ban violates a deeply important Jewish value of the preservation of human life above all else. No law is above protecting the life and health of a human being — including one’s mental health. Gender expression brings joy to many people, nourishing their health. When adults reject youth for their identities, and cheer for policies that will increase the risk of suicide and violence against trans youth, they fail to protect human life in a way that is offensive to our faith and our beliefs.
In short, the Jewish perspective is simple: Transgender youth deserve protection, dignity and respect just as much as any other person.
— Rabbi Abram Goodstein, Alex Petkanas and Chava Schapira
Congregation Beth Shalom
Anchorage
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