If This Was Your Daughter, Would You Send Her to the Men's Bathroom?

Corey Maison recently had her photograph taken by photographer Meg Bitton. What makes this photograph so special is the fact that it went viral as a response to North Carolina’s new legislation that prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms that reflect the gender they identify with. What does that have to do with the photograph? Corey is transgender.

The photographer captioned the photo with this powerful message:

“Original Post: If this was YOUR daughter, would you be comfortable sending her into a men’s bathroom? Neither would I. Be fair. Be kind. Be empathetic. Treat others how you would like to be treated.

Second Post: I guess I need to edit this post. Corey IS TRANSGENDER.

Can we ask?

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Third Post for those STILL not able to understand: If this was YOUR daughter, would you be comfortable sending her into a men’s bathroom? Neither would I. Corey Maison is transgender. She was born with male anatomy but identifies as a female. Under the new laws, SHE would be forced to use the men’s room. Therefore, I would not be comfortable sending HER into the men’s room if she was my daughter. Be fair. Be kind. Be empathetic. Treat others how you would like to be treated.

Fourth Post: Corey helped with her make up AND I edited the image FOR her, the way SHE would like it. Not for me and certainly not for any of you.

Fifth Post: It is impossible to moderate this post, try as we may. I want to delete it as badly as I don’t want to delete it. I decided to let Corey’s mother make that call and she asked for it to stay to raise awareness so it will. PLEASE BE ASSURED that I do not in anyway support the trolling insanity I am seeing here and I VERY MUCH appreciate all the positivity around Corey as does she AND her family.”

While the photo was taken last year, it was re-shared at Maison’s mom’s request in order to combat North Carolina’s House Bill 2. As of now, the photo has been shared more than 10,000 times.

For me, the photograph says it all, no explanation necessary.

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Joanna C. Valente

Joanna Valente is the former Staff Writer at Kveller. Joanna is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Xenos, and Marys of the Sea, and received an MFA at Sarah Lawrence College. You can follow @joannasaid on Twitter and @joannacvalente on Instagram.