Rebecca Siemers

Mr. Silkey
Soc Principals of sociology
5/29/16
The Transgender Debate
This last month, it has been difficult not to have heard, read or watched on television, the
national debate regarding transgender individuals and their rights in which gender restroom they
should use, without violating either discrimination laws or civil-right laws. In North Carolina,
the recent law, requiring education boards and public agencies to limit the use of sex-segregated
bathrooms of the corresponding biological sex, was said by the Justice Department, to violate
federal civil-rights laws. Followed with the Education Departments Office for Civil Rights
joining with the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division issuing a letter to schools that due to
a sex discrimination law created in 1972, transgender students must be allowed to use the rest
rooms most gender identified by or the school would lose federal funding. The Justice
Departments defense was that transgender students not allowed in doing so, constitutes
discrimination on the basis of sex.
As many can imagine, this immediately brought high levels of controversy and multitude
of law suits being filed. The argument is on as one might say. Like same sex marriage,
transgender rights of which restroom to use is a topic that will be viewed very differently by
most and is something considered out of the norm which in social aspects will create conflict.
Social conflict theory sees social life as a competition and focuses on the distribution of
resources, power, and inequality according to Kimberly Moffitt whom has taught Sociology and
Criminal Justice. Social conflict theory is defined as a micro-oriented paradigm in sociology that
views society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and social change. As defined in
the social conflict theory, the social theory argues that individuals and groups, meaning social
classes, within society have differing amounts of material and non-material resources and the
more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit groups with less power. The key
elements in this perspective are that society is structured to benefit a few at the expense of the
majority. This will bring many conflicting arguments from parents, to students, to the schools
and of course the lawyers, that will be fought out and battled through law suits throughout the
courts around the nation for some time now. There are so many opinions, views and different
interpretations of Civil-Rights and laws that this is not going to be an easy debate to settle, let
alone where majority will be pleased.
As we think about issues that arise within our society like transgender restrooms or same
sex marriage, it is clearly an example of social conflict and how it effects society as a hole.
There will always be social conflict in much of what goes on within our society for all of time
and is very much necessary in creating change.