Ms/Mr. President,

As people grow older, their lives change. Some know who they are when they're younger, some figure out when their in their teens and for others, they figure out their lives minutes before they pass. That's okay, in my opinion. Most people might not have to figure things such as gender identity, but for the rest of that population, it's a long and hard journey. 

Before I go on my tangent of facts and statistics, I'll be explaining as to why I'm addressing these lives of these people. When I was in 8th grade, I finally came out to my mother and friends as male, despite of my assigned female body. On November 28th of 2015, I told the people I most cared about that I wasn't what they always thought I was. For me, it wasn't that hard because I thought my family and friends where accepting people. I was wrong; they didn't accept me completely. They denied me basic rights as a human being by telling me they wouldn't call me by he/him pronouns until I had the surgery (which my mother told me I couldn't get until I was 18). I was devastated, but I insisted and corrected them every time they got my pronouns wrong. We'd get in arguments and what made me the most disgusted was the fact that my friends would fetishize my own mentality and problems. They would act like to wasn't a thing and that I was just being ridiculous. It hurt so much that I have attempted suicide on two different occasions purely because I hated myself (I was only 13 years old). I hated who I was and what people saw me as. Fortunately, I have since moved on and had support from my current high school.

I am not the only one. There are 1.4 million beautiful souls out there who are transgender or non-gender conforming. There are people out there in the world at this very moment denying their lives, denying themselves. They believe they are wrong and unnatural. They believe that there is no hope for them and they are damned souls all going to hell. 

In a study done by the Williams Institute (http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf), 41% of the transgender subjects interviewed (in the US) have attempted suicide at least once. This doesn't count the multiple attempted times done by singular people. Among that 41%, 46% were trans males and 42%  were trans females. Suicide was higher with people of younger ages (18-25) and was at 45%, multiracial at 54%, lower levels of education (high school and lower) were at 48-49%, lower annual household income ($10,000 per year) was at 54%. These are depressing statistics, but these are not the worst.

Transgender people do not only hate themselves, sadly, and other people hate them as well. There are reports on discrimination against these people, these human beings. 57% of peoples' families chose not to speak to them, harassed or bullied at school (any level) at 50-54%, harassed or discriminated against at work at 50-59%, health provider or doctor refused treatment at 60%, suffered physical or sexual assault at work at 64-65%, suffered physical or sexual assault at school at 63-78% and experienced homelessness at 69%. Even law enforcement is treating these people as animals. Trans people experienced harassment by officers at 57-61% or they suffered physical or sexual assault by officers at 60-70%. Personally, when I can't even trust law enforcement, I know there is something wrong with the way these people are treated. 

So, Mr/Ms. President, what will you do? Will you allow the world to go on like this? Will you allow the disgusting treatment of human beings? Or will you let this go on? Will you let those numbers grow and allow people to treat another person like a piece of gum on the ground? Will you try to stop the hate of the world or will you let the war wage on? Now, if I can gain anything from what I've seen in history, when you try to oppress people, it never goes right. So, I would suggest to stop another civil war before it starts, and end the lives of people who have to suffer simply because you didn't make the right choice.

Sincerely,

Alex