Ivan Coyote: Why we need gender-neutral bathrooms
Ivan Coyote: Warum wir geschlechtsneutrale Toiletten brauchen
Ivan Coyote believes that a good story can help inspire us to invent a better future. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
that all of us need.
die wir alle brauchen.
We need shelter and love.
einen sicheren Ort zum Pinkeln.
into the gender binary,
aus der Geschlechterbinarität heraustanzt,
ändern könnte,
gender-neutral bathrooms
an allen öffentlichen Orten einrichten.
of mainstream media attention lately.
auch von Mainstream-Medien aufgegriffen.
has been focused
anymore about where they're going to pee
am College pinkeln gehen
at their community college,
ihre Sportsachen anziehen sollen.
into their gym strip
these television star trans people
diese Transmenschen aus dem Fernsehen
have to tackle on a daily basis.
uns täglich stellen müssen.
since as far back as I can remember,
solange ich zurückdenken kann,
predominantly estrogen-based organism.
auf Östrogen basierender Organismus.
public bathrooms and change rooms
in öffentlichen Toiletten und Umkleiden
to be questioned or harassed.
attacked behind their doors.
hinter ihren Türen verbal angegriffen,
with my pants still halfway pulled up.
meine Hose noch halb herunterhing,
screamed at, whispered about,
angeschrien, es gab Getuschel
by a little old lady's purse
einer kleinen alten Dame ins Gesicht,
I took home that day
70 dollars of rolled up small change
an eingerolltem Kleingeld
most of the time these days.
auf die Herrentoilette, was ich auch tue.
my change room dilemmas, does it?
ist dadurch aber noch nicht gelöst, oder?
because I'm not a man.
gar nicht erst benutzen,
these fearmongering politicians
Panikmachern von Politikern gehört,
these bathroom bills.
durchbringen wollen?
Menschen wie mich dazu zwingen,
to try and force people like myself
that they deem most appropriate
die sie für angemessen erachten,
I was assigned at birth.
auf meiner Geburtsurkunde steht.
ever get their way,
jemals durchsetzen,
will not be a legal option for me either.
keine legale Option mehr für mich.
brings one of these bills to the table,
so einen Gesetzesentwurf vorbringen,
go about enforcing laws like these. Right?
auch durchsetzen, und wie?
of bath change rooms at public pools?
Umkleiden in Schwimmbädern?
or ethical or plausible way
ethische oder plausible Weise,
more dangerous for some of us.
durchaus zu einem gefährlicheren Ort.
or they opt out of life altogether.
oder sogar ihr Leben an den Nagel.
and gender-nonconforming youth
when accessing pools and gyms,
und Sporthallen schwerer,
on how they treat us in airports.
wie man uns an Flughäfen behandelt.
der Wahrheit stellen
"öffentlich" zu nennen.
into one of two gender boxes,
Geschlechter-Schubladen passen,
She's the daughter of a friend of mine.
die Tochter einer Freundin.
and bug jars, the whole nine yards.
Insektengläser und so weiter.
what her favorite color was.
nach ihrer Lieblingsfarbe.
at school were harassing her
von den anderen Kindern gehänselt wurde,
to stay out of the boys' bathroom.
auf die Jungstoilette zu gehen.
of that red juice
von diesem roten Saft
that red juice, right? It's so good.
schon widerstehen? Er ist so gut.
were four years old.
waren vier Jahre alt.
of the so-called public bathrooms.
"öffentlichen" Toiletten benutzt.
die brutale Lektion lernen,
the brutal lesson
no bathroom door at preschool
an ihrer Vorschule gab,
that welcomed people like her.
sich gut aufgehoben fühlen konnten.
were going to be a problem,
zum Problem werden konnten,
to talk to her little daughter,
mit ihrer Tochter zu reden
were going to march on down
and the problem was going to go away,
und das Problem lösen würden,
going to get better when she got older,
besser wird, wenn sie älter ist,
the story of what had happened,
mir zu erzählen, was passiert war,
dass sie nicht allein ist,
what had happened to her,
was ihr passiert war,
if I had ever peed in my pants before.
je in meine Hose gemacht hätte.
how you hit, like, 42 or 43,
wenn Sie so 42, 43 werden
I don't know, you pee a little bit
Wasser lassen müssen,
or you're stretching.
oder sich ausstrecken.
jetzt nicht wissen.
your bladder is going to grow bigger, too.
wird deine Blase auch größer.
to hold your pee for way longer,
gender-neutral bathrooms
geschlechtsneutrale Einzeltoiletten
into your gym clothes.
wo man Sportsachen anziehen kann.
a safe and private place
wo sie sich zurückziehen können,
who is sitting out there right now
der sich schon in seinem Kopf
in your head why this is not a priority,
warum es keine Priorität hat
einer Transperson einen sicheren Ort
a trans person a safe place to pee
that you feel offends your morality,
that probably, hopefully,
dem vielleicht, hoffentlich,
the rest of the population.
to care enough about people like me,
sich um Menschen wie mich zu sorgen,
with body image stuff going on?
die ihren Körper nicht mögen?
who is a foot shorter than his classmates,
als seine Mitschüler ist
du doch sein kannst, nicht?
mit der Angst haben?
or who need assistance in there?
oder Hilfe dort drinnen brauchen?
who, for whatever reason,
aus welchem Grund auch immer,
of what a body should look like?
passen, wie ein Körper auszusehen hat?
in front of our peers,
sich vor anderen auszuziehen,
lassen sich immer noch
transphobic minds overnight,
nicht über Nacht zum Umdenken bringen,
daran arbeiten können,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ivan Coyote - Writer, performerIvan Coyote believes that a good story can help inspire us to invent a better future.
Why you should listen
Ivan Coyote was born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. An award-winning author of eight collections of short stories, one novel, three CD’s, four short films and a renowned performer, Ivan’s first love is live storytelling. Over the last nineteen years, they have become an audience favorite at music, poetry, spoken word and writer’s festivals from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
Ivan began performing in 1992, and in 1996 co-founded Taste This, a four person performance troupe that combined live music, storytelling and performance poetry to create a text-driven genre-busting collaborative exchange. Taste This toured North America extensively and in 1998 the four artists published Boys Like Her, a critically acclaimed book that took the stage show to the printed page. Boys Like Her sold out three editions and continues to be considered a notable Canadian contribution to the dialogue around gender identity and sexuality.
Ivan teamed up with Arsenal Pulp Press in 2000, and has since released nine more books. Close to Spiderman (2000), One Man’s Trash (2002), Loose End (2005), Bow Grip (2006), The Slow Fix (2008), Missed Her (2010), Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme (2011), One In Every Crowd (2012) and Gender Failure (2014).
Ivan is still fascinated by the intersection of storytelling and music, and works with a number of well-established Canadian musicians, including pianist and composer Veda Hille, songwriter Dan Mangan, folk artist Rae Spoon, cellist Cris Derksen, and violinist Lyndell Montgomery. Ivan has released three CDs of storytelling with music, You’re A Nation (2003) and You Are Here (2007) and Only Two Reasons (2010).
In 2001 Ivan landed a little gig teaching short fiction at Capilano University in North Vancouver. This little night school class led to an accidental discovery: Ivan loves to teach creative writing. Coyote continued to teach short fiction and classes and workshops, and in 2007 was invited to become Carleton University’s writer-in-residence. While in Ottawa, Coyote taught a third year fiction class, and three memoir-writing classes for senior citizens. It was while teaching seniors that Ivan realized their true calling. Ivan strongly believes in listening to the stories of our elders, and encouraging them to write down their lives.
Coyote has since been honoured to be the writer-in-residence at the Vancouver Public Library (2009), The Carol Shield’s writer-in-residence at the University of Winnipeg (2011) and the writer-in-residence at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario (2012).
In addition to these literary and teaching accomplishments, Ivan continues to tour extensively throughout North America and Europe, telling stories not only to festival audiences but to high school students, social justice activists, adult literacy students and senior citizens all across the continent. Ivan believes in the transformative power of storytelling, and that collecting and remembering oral history not only preserves a vital part of our families and where we come from, but that a good story can help inspire us to invent a better future.
Ivan Coyote | Speaker | TED.com