Image: Facebook/Kaladkaren, Brenda Mage
TV host Kaladkaren Davila and comedian Brenda Mage spoke up on the challenges that the members of the LGTBQ+ community face on a seemingly simple decision like using the restroom. The statements come after trans woman Gretchen Diez was barred from entering a women’s restroom in a Quezon City mall this week.
Kaladkaren (real name: Jervi Li), herself a transgender woman, detailed in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Aug. 14, the discrimination trans women experience when they use public restrooms.
Sa tuwing papasok kami ng CR na pambabae, wagas ang inyong pagtitig. Pabulong-bulong pa! Judgemental teh?
Sige. Mag-aadjust Kami.
Yuyuko at parang walang nakikita.
Bakit ba kami nahihiya, eh, #GUSTOLANGNAMINUMIHI ?(a thread)
— KaladKaren (@jervijervi) August 14, 2019
When trans women enter women’s restrooms, she said they receive stares. “Sa tuwing papasok kami ng CR na pambabae, wagas ang inyong pagtitig. Pabulong-bulong pa! Judgemental teh? Sige. Mag-aadjust Kami. Yuyuko at parang walang nakikita. Bakit ba kami nahihiya, eh, #GUSTOLANGNAMINUMIHI?”
(When we enter the women’s comfort room, you all stare and whisper too! Judgmental, sis? Sure. We will adjust. Bow down as if no one is looking. Why should we be ashamed when we just want to pee?)
Kaladkaren said that using men’s comfort rooms also poses problems, with men looking at them as if they are going to beat them up. Her message to such men: “Hindi ka namin bobosohan. Katulad mo, #GUSTOLANGNAMINUMIHI.“
(We are not going to be perverts. Just like you, we just want to pee.)
She agreed too that there are bigger problems to be addressed, which is why an issue such as using restrooms should not be stressed over since trans persons simply want to use the toilet.
Comedian Brenda Mage gained fame in “It’s Showtime” when he joined the pageant “Miss Q&A.” He shared in a Facebook post pictures of what it is like to try to pee in a urinal in a dress and heels.
He assured women that members of the LGBTQ+ community are not interested in women’s private parts and that cubicles provide privacy anyway. Meanwhile, Brenda said that in men’s restrooms, men tend to hide their genitals in fear that they would look at them.
“Pero ako para iwas gulo sa Panglalaki talaga ako aangal sila mas DAKS pa ko sa kanila (To avoid trouble I go to the men’s room; they will complain that I have bigger genitals than they),” he joked.
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