The government’s proposal to make single-sex toilets mandatory in new bars, restaurants, offices, and shopping centres is a “distraction technique that targets trans people”, a drag queen has said.
Crystal, a Canadian-British drag performer who featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, told Sky News the legislation is to distract people from a “flailing government”.
“I don’t think this policy will do anything to protect anyone. There’s no evidence to suggest that mixed bathrooms are inherently more unsafe than sex-segregated ones,” the 38-year-old said.
“Meanwhile, there’s a lot of compelling evidence that shows that lots of people are made more unsafe by having only sex-segregated toilets.
“People like trans teenagers, but I’m also thinking about cis[gender] people who are gender non-conforming, who don’t necessarily pass as the gender they were assigned at birth,” he added.
“These are the people who are going to suffer when we start really policing people’s sex before they go to the toilet.”
Crystal also said that providing both single-sex and gender-neutral toilets is “a fantastic solution” and focusing on single-sex toilets only is “a false thing to be chasing after”.
“Kemi Badenoch, in this bill, says this is about protecting the privacy and dignity of women. I’m not sure how much more privacy and dignity someone needs than a locked and closed cubicle door.
“I don’t think there’s any sex-based right to the privacy of washing your hands away from a man.
“We live in a world that is non-sex segregated. We sit on trains next to each other. We sit in the theatre next to each other. We sit on the Tube next to each other.
“It’s a non-issue,” he added.
