Dear, Next President,

LGBT+ discrimination has been going on for way too long and isn’t getting better quickly enough. Everyday people are fired from their jobs, kicked out of their apartment, or the lose opportunity to learn, just because they identify differently than the “norm”. According to MSNBC News, of all transgender teens in grade K-12, 78% say they have been harassed, 35% say they have been physically assaulted, and 12% say they have been sexually assaulted.

An example of LGBT discrimination is actually in our department of justice. Even though The secretary of defense and President Obama have said, they are open to transgender troops being able to serve, but they are still banned from enlisting. Department of justice section 6130.03 says “...defects of the genitalia including...change of sex and phychosexual conditions including but not limited to transexualism and transvestism”. For instance, Captain Jacob Eleazer of the army national guard, faced discharge for being transgender even though he had support from his commander and they were awarding him a medal.

On the Larry king show, Larry king was interviewing a transgender female and asked her “Don’t you feel weird having the wrong genitalia?” and “this is a joke, you stand up in the women's bathroom?”. Now while Larry might have not realized that what he was saying was offensive, it doesn’t make it right. People need to learn that saying things like this can really hurt someone. It’s not respectful to bring up someone's genitalia, same as you wouldn’t want someone to ask you about yours, and calling it a joke is just outright rude. This woman has already gone through so much and calling it a joke is so harmful, especially coming from a very well respected person like Larry King.

On the flip side, there are people who don’t believe that this discrimination is a problem and that they deserve it. The most common arguments are “It is unnatural, against the laws of nature”, “God did not make man to be this way”. Now that statement right there is the most common one. At multiple parts of the bible (especially Leviticus) it states that homosexuality is a sin. Leviticus 18:22 says, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”. Leviticus 20:13 says, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”. Pretty dark and gruesome. The main reason that people see it as a sin is because when a man and a man have sex, it isn’t procreational; meaning a man can’t have sex with another man and get pregnant and have a kid.

What I would like to see happen is a law passed in states and on a federal level that outlaws discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and education based on gender identity/expression. If the law is passed, be sure the government agency in charge of enforcement is implementing it with easy to understand guidelines.

I would also like to propose that you work so that transgender people are able to change the gender on their driver’s license and their birth certificate, to match the gender they live as. This is the biggest problem facing America and with you help I think that we can really make a change. Thank you for taking the time to look at this and please strongly consider what I have presented to you.

Sincerely,

Sterling Macdonell