Courtney O'Donnell
Transgender actress, advocate, and writer; star, 'Lexie Cannes'
Sex-Offender Status Complicates Transgender Woman's Dallas Hospital Bathroom-Usage Citation
Posted: 05/16/2012 5:26 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/courtney-odonnell/paula-witherspoon-transgender-sex-offender_b_1521938.htmlA transgender woman was cited a few weeks ago for using the women's restroom at Dallas' Parkland Hospital. Reports conflict on the actual timing, but at one point Paula Witherspoon showed authorities a note from her doctor that supposedly "proved she was female." Other reports, however, called it just a "letter of transgender rights." Either way, she was cited by police and released.
A blogosphere uproar ensued after the discriminatory incident became public knowledge, and rightly so. However, it has now come to light that Witherspoon is also a convicted child molester on parole -- she admits that much herself. Whether this measured into the citation decision is not clear, as the hospital is saying the whole incident is now under review.
Should a child-molestation conviction matter in this incident? Maybe.
