Dear Mr. or Mrs. President,

Did you ever feel scared using the bathroom in your own school? Have you been threatened by others just for wearing what you feel comfortable in? These are issues transgender people have to deal with daily. Although there’s a multitude of problems the LGBT+ community has to deal with as a whole, I’ll be talking about the big issue of transgender individuals using the restroom they identify with. What I can’t seem to understand is why it’s your business where we do our business.

We, on a daily basis, have to live with excessive discrimination from friends, colleagues, even our own parents. We have to deal with so much hate already. For instance, the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS) showed many struggles of transgenders. For example, out of all the respondents- and all respondents being transgender- 44% couldn’t get a job, 81% of them lost a job, and 71% are unemployed and have lost a job due to their identification. Trans women have a one in twelve chance of being killed due to their gender. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, people of the LGBT+ community are the most likely to be targeted for a hate crime, double the chance of African Americans. Remember the Orlando shootings? You should. It was the worst mass shooting in all of American history, and it happened at an LGBT+ nightclub.

So with all of this hatred, it’s no wonder we can’t use the bathroom without it being an ordeal, which is wrong. We are human just like you. We occasionally have to use the bathroom. Hard concept to grasp, apparently but true all the same. There’s is nothing wrong with us. Studies have proven that being transgender is more like being left-handed than any sort of mental illness. 

Now, I can still hear some of you complaining. “Think of the children and women! Sexual predators!” to which I say, why do you care now all of a sudden? Rape happens everyday and the victim continues to be shamed, and the rapist is rarely punished because the victim must have “been asking for it.” Transgender individuals are no more or less likely to be a sexual predator. In fact, trans individuals can face more assault than any others. The Gender, Violence, and Resource Access Survey found that 50% of trans people have been raped or assaulted by a romantic partner. The reason we don’t need a transgender law to protect others from sexual predators in the bathroom is because there are laws already in place that do that. Just because we are  allowed to use the bathroom in a way that’s comfortable for us doesn’t mean there’s going to be a wave of sudden assault. 

A solution is obviously needed. I propose we pass a law that will allow transgenders to use the bathroom they identify with. Anyone who takes advantage of the law will be punished accordingly. Walking into a bathroom shouldn’t be a big deal, and while the risks are prominent, there are things that can be done.

To summarize, transgenders and all people of the LGBT+ community face awful discrimination for being themselves. There are no more risks to letting trans people use the restroom they want to then there is right now. I’m trying to put every ounce of desperation I have into this letter, because feeling physically ill walking to the girls bathroom shouldn’t be how I have to live my entire life. We are not predators.

Stop treating us like we are.

-Miles O.