Put rape aside for a minute. Let me explain my problem with the the TG bathroom laws from my perspective as a woman. The problem is there is no standard as to who is TG and who is not. Therefore, any man could claim to be a woman on a particular day and have free and unfettered access to the women's bathroom. That is a problem for me. If a woman complains about a man in the women's restroom, the man can say, "Stop, you hater, you trasnsphob meanie. I am really a woman." Because there is no standard, we don't know if the man is sincerely TG or is a faker trying to gain access to the forbidden women's restroom.
The problem goes way beyond potential rape. If a man exposes himself to a woman or child in a park, the man will be arrested, potentially jailed, and labeled a sex offender. If a man peaks a woman naked or using the bathroom, the man will be arrested, potentially jailed and labeled a sex offender. If a man walks into a woman's restroom and peaks at women and girls using the restroom and/or exposes himself in the restroom, the man will be arrested, potentially jailed, and labeled a sex offender. This is as it should be because these sex offender laws protect women and children from sexual predators, who are, in the vast majority of cases, men.
Now, if the TG bathroom laws prevail, woman and girls are no longer protected from these predators in the restroom. Woman and girls can be naked in a women's restroom and locker rooms. In my experience, most women are discrete, but, if a woman is naked for some reason, maybe changing clothes, other woman cannot complain. There is nothing illegal or wrong about a woman being naked in a women's restroom However, with the TG bathroom laws a man can be naked in the women's room. A man can walk into a women's restroom, without question, and expose himself to the women and children using the restroom. if someone complains or calls the police, the man can simply say, "I feel like a woman in a man's body, I am TG and have the right to use the woman's restroom." These women are labeled haters if they object to a man exposing his penis in a restroom. Who is to say whether this person is really TG or a man committing a sexual offense against woman and girls.
Also, think about the peepers. Under the TG bathroom laws, the peeking toms can claim to be women for the day and go into women's restrooms to get glimpses of women and girls using undressed and using the toilet. Sadly, perverts get off on stuff like this, which is why the law prevents men from going into the women's restroom. If the TG bathroom laws are in effect, these perverts can pretend to be woman and go into the women's restrooms to get their thrills. If women and girls complain, instead of the man being arrested and labeled a sex offender, the woman and girls will be labeled haters and transphobs.
And to your point, rape is also a concern. Rape is a concern because the TG restrooms laws allows potential rapist access to woman in the restroom, a place where women and girls are most vulnerable. Yes, it is true that a rapist will rape with or without the TG bathroom laws. But the current laws prohibiting men from entering the women's restroom, protects women by giving them legal recourse against a man who breaches that privacy.
I feel for Jazz, Noelle and other transgender individuals. They don't really have a home, not in the men's room, not in the women's room. But the answer to their dilemma is not to allow any man who claims to be a woman, without any standard whatsoever, unfettered access to women's restrooms. Unfortunately, there are many, many more sexual predators in our communities than transgender individuals, so, I think any restroom policy must focus first and foremost on protecting women and children from these predators.
