There are a few things that all of us need. We all need air to breathe. We need clean water to drink. We need food to eat. We need shelter and love. You know. Love is great, too. And we all need a safe place to pee.
有幾樣東西我們所有人都需要。 我們都需要有空氣呼吸。 我們都需要有乾淨的水喝。 我們都需要有食物吃。 我們都需要庇護和愛。 你知道,愛也是很重要的。 而且我們都需要安全的地方小解。
(Laughter) Yeah?
(笑聲)對吧?
As a trans person who doesn't fit neatly into the gender binary, if I could change the world tomorrow to make it easier for me to navigate, the very first thing I would do is blink and create single stall, gender-neutral bathrooms in all public places.
作為不符合兩性框架的變性者, 如果我明天就能改變世界, 讓我可以更自在的徜徉其中, 我會做的第一件事就是, 在眨眼間,把獨立的跨性別廁所, 建設於每個公共場所。
(Applause) Trans people and trans issues, they've been getting a lot of mainstream media attention lately. And this is a great and necessary thing, but most of that attention has been focused on a very few individuals, most of whom are kinda rich and pretty famous, and probably don't have to worry that much anymore about where they're going to pee in between classes at their community college, or where they're going to get changed into their gym strip at their public high school. Fame and money insulates these television star trans people from most of the everyday challenges that the rest of us have to tackle on a daily basis.
(掌聲) 變性者與變性議題, 最近受到大量的主流媒體注目。 這是件很棒也必要的事情, 但是大多的注意力 只集中在少數人身上, 這些人大多都是蠻有錢 也滿有名的, 而且大概也不再需要太擔心 他們在社區大學上課時 要在哪裡如廁; 或是在公立高中裡要去哪裡換運動服。 名聲與金錢將這些 媒體寵兒的跨性別者 與幾乎每天都會碰到的困難隔離, 而我們其餘的人 必須每天克服這些難題。
Public bathrooms. They've been a problem for me since as far back as I can remember, first when I was just a little baby tomboy and then later as a masculine-appearing, predominantly estrogen-based organism.
公共廁所。 從我有記憶以來 它們對我而言便是個難題, 最開始當我還只是個小男人婆時, 接著是有陽剛外表 與明顯雌性器官的時候。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Now, today as a trans person, public bathrooms and change rooms are where I am most likely to be questioned or harassed. I've often been verbally attacked behind their doors. I've been hauled out by security guards with my pants still halfway pulled up. I've been stared at, screamed at, whispered about, and one time I got smacked in the face by a little old lady's purse that from the looks of the shiner I took home that day I am pretty certain contained at least 70 dollars of rolled up small change and a large hard candy collection.
現在,作為一個變性者 , 公共浴廁與更衣室 是我最常被質疑或騷擾的地方。 我時常在更衣室門後 受到門外人的言語攻擊。 我曾經在褲子穿到一半時 被保全拖出去。 我受到打量;有人對我 大呼小叫或是背後耳語。 還有一次,一位矮小的年長女性 用皮包甩了我一巴掌。 而且從那天我身上的瘀青來看, 我蠻肯定那皮包裡至少有 70 美金的零錢, 還有一大包的綜合水果硬糖。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
And I know what some of you are thinking, and you're mostly right. I can and do just use the men's room most of the time these days. But that doesn't solve my change room dilemmas, does it? And I shouldn't have to use the men's room because I'm not a man. I'm a trans person.
我知道你們之中有些人會這麼想, 而你基本上是正確的, 在大多數的時候, 我可以用男廁就好, 但那並不能解決我使用 更衣室的困境,對吧? 而且我不應該使用男士洗手間 因為我並不是男性。 我是一位變性人。
And now we've got these fearmongering politicians that keep trying to pass these bathroom bills. Have you heard about these? They try to legislate to try and force people like myself to use the bathroom that they deem most appropriate according to the gender I was assigned at birth. And if these politicians ever get their way, in Arizona or California or Florida or just last week in Houston, Texas, or Ottawa, well then, using the men's room will not be a legal option for me either.
現在我們碰到一群煽動恐懼的政客, 試圖通過一些廁所法案。 你們有聽過相關法案嗎? 他們試圖用立法 來強迫像我一樣的人們 去使用他們認為最恰當的廁所── 根據我的生理性別── 要是如這群政客所願的話, 不論是在亞利桑那州 加州或佛羅里達, 或者只是上週在德州休斯頓, 或渥太華, 那我在這些地方 使用男廁所都是違法的事。
And every time one of these politicians brings one of these bills to the table, I can't help but wonder, you know, just who will and exactly how would we go about enforcing laws like these. Right? Panty checks? Really. Genital inspections outside of bath change rooms at public pools? There's no legal or ethical or plausible way to enforce laws like these anyway. They exist only to foster fear and promote transphobia. They don't make anyone safer. But they do for sure make the world more dangerous for some of us.
每當這些政客提出相關的提案時, 我不禁懷疑,你知道, 究竟有誰會去執行 這樣的法律?要怎麼執行? 檢查內褲? 說笑的吧? 在公共游泳池更衣室外 查核你的生殖器? 沒有在法律或倫理上合理的理由 去實施這樣的法律。 他們的存在只是為了促進恐懼 並傳播跨性別恐懼症。 他們沒有讓任何人變得更安全。 但他們肯定讓我們 其中一些人的世界更危險。
And meanwhile, our trans children suffer. They drop out of school, or they opt out of life altogether. Trans people, especially trans and gender-nonconforming youth face additional challenges when accessing pools and gyms, but also universities, hospitals, libraries. Don't even get me started on how they treat us in airports.
而與此同時, 我們跨性別的孩子為此受苦。 他們輟學,甚至棄世而逃。 跨性別者,特別是 對性別認知不同的年輕人, 在進入游泳池和健身房的時候 必須面臨更多的挑戰, 不只游泳池,還有大學、 醫院、圖書館。 千萬別讓我告訴你 我們在機場是如何被對待的。
If we don't move now to make sure that these places are truly open and accessible to everyone, then we just need to get honest and quit calling them public places. We need to just admit that they are really only open for people who fit neatly into one of two gender boxes, which I do not. I never have. And this starts very early.
如果我們現在不行動, 以確保這些地方 是真的開放而且可供每一個人使用, 那我們乾脆誠實一點, 別叫它們為公共場所了。 我們必須承認, 這些場所只開放給 只符合兩性概念的族群, 而我並不在其列。 我從來就不是。 而這從很早就開始了。
I know a little girl. She's the daughter of a friend of mine. She's a self-identified tomboy. I'm talking about cowboy boots and Caterpillar yellow toy trucks and bug jars, the whole nine yards. One time I asked her what her favorite color was. She told me, "Camouflage."
我認識一個小女孩, 他是我朋友的女兒。 她自己覺得自己是個男人婆。 我說的是她的牛仔靴, 巨無霸黃色玩具卡車, 和果醬罐裡的昆蟲,全部都是。 有一次我問她,她最愛什麼顏色, 她告訴我:「迷彩。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So that awesome little kid, she came home from school last October from her half day of preschool with soggy pants on because the other kids at school were harassing her when she tried to use the girls' bathroom. And the teacher had already instructed her to stay out of the boys' bathroom. And she had drank two glasses of that red juice at the Halloween party, and I mean, who can resist that red juice, right? It's so good. And she couldn't hold her pee any longer.
這麼棒的一個小孩子, 在去年十月, 從幼兒園上完半天課回家時, 穿著濕掉的褲子 , 因為學校裡的其他孩子騷擾她, 就在她試著要去女生廁所的時候。 而她的老師已經教過她 不能走進男廁。 她喝了兩大杯的果汁 在萬聖節派對上。 我說,誰有辦法抗拒 果汁的誘惑呢?它太好喝了! 也因此她再也憋不住尿了。
Her and her classmates were four years old. They already felt empowered enough to police her use of the so-called public bathrooms. She was four years old. She had already been taught the brutal lesson that there was no bathroom door at preschool with a sign on it that welcomed people like her. She'd already learned that bathrooms were going to be a problem, and that problem started with her and was hers alone. So my friend asked me to talk to her little daughter, and I did. I wanted to tell her that me and her mom were going to march on down and talk to that school, and the problem was going to go away, but I knew that wasn't true. I wanted to tell her that it was all going to get better when she got older, but I couldn't. So I asked her to tell me the story of what had happened, asked her to tell me how it made her feel. "Mad and sad," she told me. So I told her that she wasn't alone and that it wasn't right what had happened to her, and then she asked me if I had ever peed in my pants before. I said yes, I had, but not for a really long time.
她和她的同學們才四歲, 但他們已經覺得自己有權力 去監督她使用所謂的公共廁所。 她才四歲啊! 她卻已經接受了這殘忍的一課, 幼稚園裡沒有一間廁所門上的 標誌符號是歡迎像她這樣的人。 她體悟到如廁將會是一個大麻煩, 這個麻煩開始跟著她, 而她必須自己面對。 所以我朋友請我跟她女兒談談, 我就去了。 我想告訴她, 我跟她母親會殺到學校 去跟學校理論, 然後所有的問題都搞定了。 但我知道這不是真的。 我想告訴她等她長大之後 這一切都會變好, 但我也不能。 所以我問她整件事是如何發生的, 讓她告訴我她的感受。 她告訴我:「好生氣又好難過!」 所以我告訴她 她不是孤單的, 還有發生在她身上的事情不是對的。 然後她問我,有沒有尿在褲子上過? 我說有,我有。 不過好久好久沒有尿在褲子上了。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Which of course was a lie, because you know how you hit, like, 42 or 43, and sometimes you just, I don't know, you pee a little bit when you cough or sneeze, when you're running upstairs, or you're stretching. Don't lie. It happens. Right? She doesn't need to know that, I figure.
這當然是個謊言, 因為你們也知道,到了 42、43 歲, 我不知道,有時候你只是漏了一點尿, 可能只是在咳嗽或是打哈欠的時候, 或是跑上樓梯,或只是伸個懶腰, 別說謊! 事情就是這樣,對吧? 她不需要知道這事,我想。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I told her, when you get older, your bladder is going to grow bigger, too. When you get old like me, you're going to be able to hold your pee for way longer, I promised her.
我跟她說,當你長大之後 你的膀胱也會一起變大。 當你到我這個年紀時, 你憋尿的時間就長很多了, 我向她保證。
"Until you can get home?" she asked me.
「憋到可以回家的時候嗎?」 她如此問道。
I said, "Yes, until you can get home." She seemed to take some comfort in that.
我說:「是。 直到你回到家的時候。」 她對此感到舒坦了些。
So let's just build some single stall, gender-neutral bathrooms with a little bench for getting changed into your gym clothes. We can't change the world overnight for our children, but we can give them a safe and private place to escape that world, if only for just a minute. This we can do. So let's just do it.
所以,讓我們建立一些無性別廁所吧! 裡面還要放小板凳, 可以換上健身服。 我們不可能一夜之間 為了我們的孩子改變全世界, 但我們可以給他們一個 安全而隱私的地方, 讓他們逃離那個世界, 哪怕只是一分鐘。 這就是我們可以做到的。 所以讓我們著手吧。
And if you are one of those people who is sitting out there right now already coming up with a list of reasons in your head why this is not a priority, or it's too expensive, or telling yourself that giving a trans person a safe place to pee or get changed in supports a lifestyle choice that you feel offends your morality, or your masculinity, or your religious beliefs, then let me just appeal to the part of your heart that probably, hopefully, does care about the rest of the population. If you can't bring yourself to care enough about people like me, then what about women and girls with body image issues? What about anyone with body image stuff going on? What about that boy at school who is a foot shorter than his classmates, whose voice still hasn't dropped yet? Hey? Oh, grade eight, what a cruel master you can be. Right? What about people with anxiety issues? What about people with disabilities or who need assistance in there? What about folks with bodies who, for whatever reason, don't fit into the mainstream idea of what a body should look like? How many of us still feel shy or afraid to disrobe in front of our peers, and how many of us allow that fear to keep us from something as important as physical exercise? Would all those people not benefit from these single stall facilities?
而如果你現在正坐在那兒, 腦中浮現了一整張清單的理由, 證明這不是最急迫的, 或這太昂貴了, 又或者覺得給跨性別者 一個地方上廁所 或換衣服 有違你的道德感, 或男子氣概, 或宗教信仰, 那讓我懇求你吧! 懇求你心中還有那麼一絲絲 真心在乎大眾群體的地方。 如果你沒辦法說服自己 給予像我這樣的人足夠的關懷, 那你又如何對待對身體意象 有障礙的婦女呢? 那又該如何對待所有 對身體意象有障礙的人呢? 那些在學校裡比其他同學 矮上 30 公分的男生呢? 還沒變聲的他們? 噢!八年級啊! 你是個多麼殘酷的大師啊! 對吧? 還有那些焦慮症患者呢? 還有那些殘障人士 或需要協助的人呢? 還有那些人,不論什麼緣故 就是不符合大家對身體 應該長怎樣的主流認知? 我們之中還有多少人 覺得害羞或是害怕, 當你在同儕之中脫下衣衫的時候? 而我們之中又有多少人因為這種恐懼 而讓我們不能做一些重要的日常活動, 像是運動健身? 這些族群不是都會受益於 這些單獨隔間的洗手間嗎?
We can't change transphobic minds overnight, but we can give everybody a place to get changed in so that we can all get to work making the world safer for all of us.
我們不能一夜之間 改變人們對跨性別者的恐懼, 但我們可以給每個人 一個更衣的地方。 為此我們可以一起努力 讓這個世界更安全, 無論你是哪種人。
Thank you for listening.
謝謝你們的聆聽。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)