TranSquat App Helps Transgender Community Find Safe Restrooms
Oct 7, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
What if going to a public restroom meant sideways glances, threats, or even violence? For the transgender community, that's the scary reality. Now comes TranSquat, an app that helps users find the closest safe bathroom. Eliza Shapiro reports.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/07/transquat-app-helps-transgender-community-find-safe-restrooms.html (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/07/transquat-app-helps-transgender-community-find-safe-restrooms.html)
Using a public restroom might seem like a simple, if occasionally disgusting, task: look for the familiar man and woman stick figures and help keep the Starbucks bathroom line moving.
But for the transgender community, the ritual is riddled with anxiety and the constant threat of harassment, even violence. If you're a man who used to be a woman, or vice versa, or in the process of transitioning genders, picking a door can be confusing. Going through that door can lead to anything from a sideways glance to physical violence.
Enter TranSquat, a brand-new iPhone app that uses a vast database of gender-neutral bathrooms across the United States and Canada—and now extending as far as Kuwait—to point users to the closest safe restroom.