A transgender woman is pleading not guilty after being charged with raping a young child inside of a private bathroom.
On March 23, Miguel Martinez — a biological male who goes by the name Michelle and identifies as female — invited a 10-year old girl into a restroom where he proceeded to grope her breasts and genitals before raping her.
In her report to the police, the victim said that “it hurt inside” before breaking down into sobs. According to the Gazette, “Nurses at the Wyoming Medical Center completed a sexual assault exam and found redness and abrasions on the girl’s genitalia.” Miguel Martinez’s trial for the rape began on October 16.
The incident reignited America’s conversation on allowing transgender individuals to use public bathrooms which do not correspond with the gender they were assigned at birth. It has since been confirmed that the attack took place inside of a private bathroom. However, the setting of the attack doesn’t change what happened — a brutal rape of a young child. The idea of allowing biological males to share public restrooms with young girls still presents a very real concern.
There are no cameras in women’s restrooms. No security guards either. 99.99% of the time there is only other women – most of whom would be incapable of defending themselves against a biological male who wished to do them harm. These restrooms are supposed to be safe places for women to have privacy without a male presence.
In the almost immediate past, a male entering a women’s restroom would raise alarm for those inside and outside alike. Most every time, this alarm and the actions that followed it would be enough to keep horrible crimes such as the one carried out by Miguel Martinez from happening. Now, though, raising alarm when a male enters a women’s restroom has been cast as bigotry and hatred. We as a society have paved the way for predators such as Miguel Martinez, and the innocent and helpless are now paying the consequences.
Martinez was, in fact, a transgender individual. However, there are no requirements as to what stage of transition a person has to be in for them to be allowed in a women’s restroom. You don’t have to have had a sex reassignment surgery or be taking estrogen to enter a women’s restroom. You don’t even have to dress or look like a woman. All you have to do is identify as a woman, and you are allowed to enter any restroom you choose.
This opens the door for predators who are not transgender at all to use women’s restrooms as their new hunting ground, and for these sick people, it’s the perfect location. Women’s restrooms are inherently vulnerable locations. They’re private, secluded, accessed only by women (most of the time) and are places where women undress.
Even if no sexual assault takes place, we owe it to women to provide them with a place where they can go without a male presence. By the same token, men and young boys should be able to access a restroom that does not have a female presence. For hundreds of years, this has been common sense. Now, though, common sense is an unfortunate scarcity.
~ Liberty Planet
