Dear Future President,

Transgender individuals have been experiencing discrimination for a long time, and it’s not getting any better. With all the transphobia, especially in the United States, it’s hard for a transgender individual to get along. People are stuck in the mindset that gender is determined by the sex assigned at birth, but in reality, it is defined as one's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 75% of transgender people are victims of sexual harassment, 50% attempt suicide by age 20, and 97% have been mistreated for just being transgender.

One example of discrimination in transgender youth, is the bathroom bill. This bill requires people to use the bathroom that matches the sex of their birth certificate, which means, if you're transgender, you have to use the bathroom that matches your sex. This may not be a huge problem for some people, but for others, this could be devastating. “It speaks to all of us who have ever been made to feel inferior, like somehow we just don’t belong in our community, like somehow we just don’t fit in. Let me reassure every transgender individual, right here in America, that you belong just as you are.” said Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Some people are afraid of people who will pretend to be transgender, so they can perv on the people in the bathroom. A cartoon, drawn by Drew Sheneman, depicts a man, in what seems to be the women’s restroom, standing on the toilet, looking into an occupied stall. He is saying, “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to keep the perverts out the bathroom.” Although, we can’t be sure that this type of situation won’t occur, we already have laws preventing this.

“I wanted it to be enforced that students and teachers should use my name and pronouns and to use the space that I identify with, so bathrooms and locker rooms.” said transgender teen, Maddie Dalton. Transgender students want to be able to use the spaces (like bathrooms, locker rooms, etc.) that they identify with. “First of all, it makes you a target for bullying and, like, harassment. It puts it in everyone’s minds 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.” Maddie says, on unisex bathrooms. “It all comes down to being respected as a person and accepted. Now, that’s all relying on the fundamental assumption that you respect being transgender as a legitimate, like, concept, as a legitimate thing. And I think that’s where most of the trouble comes in.”

So, as you can see, transgender individuals, face a lot of discrimination, and this bathroom bill is only adding on to it. You, as the next president, have the power to stop this bill from becoming a law, and eliminating it, period. You can do all of the transgender community a favor, by ridding North Carolina, and the rest of the United States, of this bill.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

KJ.