The same people being targeted as
predators now.
d "female" and used by people based on their biological sex.
Baity and others with similar beliefs offer anecdotal evidence — crime reports — to support their claims.
But those cases involve sexual predators who put on women's clothes and violated any number of previously existing laws. And conflating "transgender" with "predator" is something many find offensive.
"As a trans person ... it's hard not to take it personally when people are comparing trans people to child predators or saying that we're somehow dangerous," says Alison Gill, vice chair of the Trans United Fund.
Gill points out that not long ago, many people incorrectly thought gay men were pedophiles.
She says some people just don't understand that when it comes time for a transgender person to start using the other restroom, they'd rather do it privately, and with as little fuss as possible.
"The last thing you as a trans person would want to do is draw attention to yourself," Gill says.
So far 17 states and many more communities across the United States include transgender people among protected classes for public accommodations.
UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy, is working on a study to learn whether extending public accommodations rights to transgender people leads to more crimes by predators.
Early indications are that it does not.
"As far as we know there hasn't been some sort of, you know, devolving into chaos in restrooms," says Jody Herman, a public policy scholar at the institute.
One thing Herman can say for certain: Based on her survey of 93 transgender and gender nonconforming people in Washington, D.C., in 2008 and 2009, they themselves are at risk in restrooms.