Dear Future President,

Congratulations on your winning of the election! Because you have taken on this HUGE responsibility I understand that a lot of issues are going to need your help to settle. I believe a big issue that has risen recently is the transgender bathroom policy. How would it make you feel if it was suddenly illegal to use the bathroom that associates with the gender you identify with? Transgender people are people who were born in a certain body and feel uncomfortable or just plain wrong in that body. And once they start accepting who they truly are, as in, dressing in clothes that make them feel comfortable, or getting a haircut that makes them feel good and or acting in a way that makes them happy, they become a much happier person. They feel comfortable in their own skin. Which is quite an accomplishment in this day in age. For some reason people can’t understand that transgender people are regular people and deserve the same respect as everyone else. 

In May of 2016, North Carolina filed opposing lawsuits over the bathroom bill. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said, “this action is about a great deal more than just bathrooms, this is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we, as a people and as a country have enacted to protect them.” This law is taking away people's dignity and respect as humans. This law is not allowing people to use whichever bathroom they feel suits them. Transgender people have dealt with discrimination for as long as they have been or came out as transgender. Visual.ly reported that “3 out of 4 transgender youth experience sexual harassment at school.” And “1 out of 2 transgender people attempt suicide by age 20.” Transgender people live pretty tough lives as it is without not being to use the bathroom that correlates with the gender the identify as.

Atherton High School in Kentucky was in a dilemma about a policy for transgender students. They said that transgender people would have to use a “private or unisex bathroom.” The first openly transgender student at Atherton High School states that this policy would “first of all, it makes you a target for bullying and, like, harassment. It puts it in everyone’s mind that you are different, and you are something to be looked at, not as, like, a person, but as whatever characteristic is differentiating you, like being trans.” Without being able to use the bathroom that they “identify” with will just put them more in the way for bullying and discrimination.

However, some people mainly want this law to prevent sexual assault in bathrooms. Which could be a problem, people could use transgender as an excuse to get into whatever bathroom they want. But, considering that, if someone was going to assault someone they would do it anyway. A specific gendered bathroom isn’t going to stop a pedophile or a rapist. So this law isn’t going to stop that. This law is only preventing people to feel comfortable and respected and allowed to use whichever bathroom they please.

A solution that you might consider would be, leaving the bathrooms how they are and letting people use the correct one with the gender they are. If someone is uncomfortable with that they can use their own restroom at their house. Transgender people are still people and deserve the right to go into whatever bathroom suits them best. Thank you for taking time to read this and hopefully consider everything I’ve said. Good luck on your term of being The President of the United States.

Sincerely,

Callie J.

Washington Post via Newsela (Ed. Newsela staff. Version 1080). “U.S. Government, N.C. File Opposing Lawsuits Over ‘Bathroom Bill.’” 12 May 2016. Web. 21 June 2016.

“Transgender.” Visually. March 2011. Web. 21 June 2016.

Qureshi, Yasmeen. “As Transgender Teens Struggle, Here’s How One Kentucky School Leads the Way.” PBS Newshour. 7 June 2016. Web. 21 June 2016.