During a visit to lobby legislators on transgender issues, Senator Carden Summers (R) knelt down and told a child he would protect her. When he learned she was trans, he backed away.
On Feb. 6, a group of families met to lobby senators on issues affecting the local transgender community in Georgia. One mother, Lena Kotler, decided to take her two children with her to give the topic a human face. While waiting to meet with Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson, who they had heard was a big supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, another senator passed by — Republican Sen. Carden Summers, the primary sponsor of the state’s bathroom ban bill. Little did he know that one of the children he would be interacting with, Aleix, 8 years old, was a transgender child.
According to Kotler and other families who were present, the senator stopped to say hello. That’s when Kotler spoke to Senator Summers about how she was there with her kids to “talk to legislators about keeping her kids safe.” Although she did not mention that one of her children was trans, they were present with LGBTQ+ signage - something the Senator apparently missed when he knelt down in front of Aleix and said, according to Kotler, “Well you know, we’re working on that and I’m going to protect kids like you.”
Kotler then replied, “Yeah - Alex is trans, and she wants to be safe at school, she wants to go to the bathroom and be safe.”
That is when, according to multiple witnesses, Sen. Summers stood up and fumbled his words, repeating, "I mean, yeah, I'm going to make sure she's safe by going to the right bathroom," continuing to use the correct pronouns for Aleix. When asked if he would make her go to a boy's bathroom, he then allegedly backed away, saying, "You're attacking me," turned around, and walked off quickly.
The difference here is that children often lack a concept of sexuality, because they don't feel sexual attraction yet. That liking someone or being attracted to someone is two different things, is something children usually learn in puberty.
But children very well understand, the social constructs we create for boys and girls, and can express whether they feel that fitting them or not.
Finally you said:
This is exactly what the issue is about. Let the children use the bathroom they feel most comfortable with and not impose a gender and sexuality on them.
Whether or not you fit the social construct doesn't determine whether you're male or female. You're putting the cart so far in front of the horse it's about to lap it.
But the bathrooms are not "male bathrooms" and "female bathrooms". They're "Men's" and "Women's" washrooms. Which are determined by the social construct.
Toilet Wars