Because all the conversation I’ve seen has been against Trans Women going to women’s restrooms. Which is strange to me because, according to the twisted concept of TERFs, Trans men are not men (even though they are), but “women”.
Aren’t they worried about “women” going into men’s bathrooms?
No. They should be considering this, given that plenty of trans men look like large and intimidating men (because they are), and they’ll be forced to use womens’ restrooms if the TERFs had their way.
Ultimately, the restroom issue is only superficial. TERFs (and other bigots) will pick issues like this, but they don’t actually care about the issues they’re yelling about. What they really care about is keeping their privilege and their sense of superiority. And that requires having a “them” group to put down and exclude, to clutch their pearls around.
So when you see irrational takes like the restroom thing, remember that it’s irrational because it’s not actually important to them (though they themselves likely don’t realize that).
They also care about ruining trans people’s lives in any way possible. I’m sure there are plenty of transphobes who simply haven’t thought the bathroom thing through, but don’t forget the other reason they’d be happy to put passing trans men in women’s bathrooms: it forces them into an impossible decision. When an angry mob drags a trans man out of the women’s toilet, you think they’re going to listen to protestations of being AFAB? If anything, that’d just rile them up further. So a when someone is faced with the decision of choosing either the room they’re least likely to be noticed in, or the one the law technically assigned to them, they may instead choose to stay home. They may even start considering detransitioning. This is a feature, not a bug.
Yeah, that’s the “put down and exclude” part. The thing is, though, is that the transphobes don’t believe it’s because they want to ruin trans folks’ lives. In fact, they believe they’re doing the Right Thing™. Pressuring people to stay closeted is something they’re definitely attempting to do, but they genuinely believe it’s for everyone’s benefit, even the trans folks (again, this is irrational). They don’t take pleasure from the pain and discomfort they cause (at least not consciously), they take pleasure from feeling righteous.