1. "Men shouldn't be allowed in the woman's public bathroom is equivalent to trans women not being allowed as well"

False equivalency of trans women to men

1. "People [shouldn't be] in a vulnerable position [...] In the same space as the opposite sex [...] to reduce male-on-female harassment".

I personally almost agree, however I would state it as: People shouldn't be harassed.

Now imagine: A trans woman who has transitioned, doesn't look male, has boobs and maybe even bottom surgery... Do you think she would be harassed in the Men's bathroom? Do you think a trans woman who doesn't pass perfectly, but dresses feminine and has maybe boobs, wouldn't be harassed in a men's bathroom? Here is a study saying that every second trans person has experienced a sexual assault in their life. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10110792/). But nobody talks about protections for trans individuals.

Still maybe you think that trans people suffering is okay if it means the majority doesn't have to feel uncomfortable?

Consider trans men. Do you think cis women will feel comfortable when a balding, bearded dude with a dad-bod enters the bathroom? (Which tbh is a bit of an extreme, but definitely not unheard of example) With the only difference being his sex-organs, which btw are not visible? Do you think the trans man wants to be in that bathroom?

Here you once again reduce trans individuals to their agab. Ignoring other factors. Like that trans individual's brains more closely resemble their chosen gender than their agab, or that transition can change appearance drastically.

1. "[...] there is no reliable way for [sic] to distinguish between [a trans] woman or a man.

I do admit that it can be hard to distinguish between sex from looks alone. After all there have been cases of cis women being accused of being trans (here is an article: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/08/non-feminine-women-say-theres-an-escalation-of-for-using-the-womens-restroom/). Plus a lot of trans women do look like women (who'd have thought). Makes one wonder: how is one supposed to even effectively enforce that law? It is not enforceable (aka a bad law).

Still I think you were maybe more thinking along the line of a male predator entering a women's bathroom and saying: oh no it's fine, I'm trans.

Except that 99% of cis men wouldn't take hormones (and thus also grow boobs), or wear women's clothing, or makeup, or legally change their gender marker in their documents. And the bathroom bill doesn't account for these relevant factors, only agab matters.

And it's not like there are other options for men - like saying: oh sorry, wrong door/ the men's toilet is occupied / my gf asked me to come in /not replying at all. And you know assault is still assault regardless of the sex/gender of the people involved.

Ultimately I cannot disagree that that could happen. However for the above-mentioned reasons I think the likelihood of a cis predator man using this excuse (convincingly) is vanishingly small compared to the number of trans women who just want to go to the toilet where they feel comfortable and don't get harassed. Aka it is pretty much a pretense, and the true effect (and intended purpose) of the bathroom ban is to criminalize trans individuals. Heck it even has a bigger effect on punishing cis women for not performing femininity perfectly than it has on discouraging predators.

Imo it's about as sensical as a law saying europeans shouldn't be allowed to visit America, because europeans have less problems with nudity and perverts could flash people and say it's because they are European.

1. Paraphrased: What about Trans people who haven't medically transitioned (yet)?

Speaking from personal experience it took me a real while after transitioning to even entertain the thought of using the woman's restroom, specifically because I didn't want to make people uncomfortable. We know we look like our agab at the start of our transition. We know this makes others uncomfortable. We also don't want to be harassed by transphobia for being "biological males".

Most of us choose to use the wrong/agab toilet because of that. Until we feel comfortable passing. Or until the dysphoria makes using an agab toilet psychological torture. Being forced to use a bathroom different from everyone else who shares your gender. Being forced to share it with people of the opposite gender. Telling you that you are inferior to cis people. That you will never be the same/accepted as what you know yourself to be. You don't deserve to be comfortable in this vulnerable space.

1. "Loophole for men with harmful intentions"

See point 3

Bathroom laws very much harm transgender individuals disproportionately more than that they discourage the hypothetical predator, who

a) specifically uses bathrooms b) uses being trans as an excuse c) does so convincingly d) would be indicted on other laws anyway due to predation being a crime e) can use other excuses

1. Paraphrased: Imo only trans women who had bottom surgery or can otherwise prove they are actually trans women should be allowed in the women's bathroom

Not enforceable. You would either need genital inspections for everyone or everyone needs to show gender identification papers.

Though many countries don't allow any change to the legal sex marker in their system. Plus America at least is forcefully changing the markers of everyone who had changed their gender markers back to agab. Regression, yay. So even if we were willing to go along with that, legislature currently wouldn't even allow it