Dear Future President:

There is an issue that needs to be discussed, regarding some things you’ve been associated with while running for presidency. You have spoken the words, “As president, I will do everything in my power to protect LGBT citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” at the Republican National Convention back in July. There are many LGBT citizens of the US who are scared, or more so terrified, because of what Pence has said, and the actions done by your supporters. I believe that the LGBT community deserves equality, as much as any other human being. Throughout life, they should feel at peace to be themselves. It is important that some points are brought to your attention.

From what I understand, transgender students are in need of more safety and acceptance in schools. School systems need to treat each and every gender nonconforming and transgender student with respect, and hopefully support. Not only do they need protection in school with correct pronouns and names, but they should be allowed to go into the restroom/locker room that makes them comfortable. Dysphoria can be a distraction; I associate with this myself- allowing them to use the locker/restroom that coordinates with their identity will just make things a little easier for them. This goes for anybody in the transgender community, not only students. Isolating transgender people is discriminatory, irrelevant and can be dangerous. According to an ACLU article, “Shante Thompson, 34, a Black transgender woman from Houston, Texas, was beaten and shot to death by a group of assailants on April 11. The group also killed a man walking with Thompson. Twenty-three-year-old Tariq Lackings has been arrested and charged with capital murder.” There are violent acts against transgender people occurring too often. If you keep your word, we can come together to protect all these people and stop it.

As we all know, Michael Pence is your vice president. He’s been labeled as homophobic numerous times. One of the several homophobic things he’s done is support conversion therapy. If you weren’t aware, that only does more harm than good. It rarely ever works, and can lead the people put into the therapy to drugs, suicide, anxiety, and things of the like. Think about this. Would you rather have tons of people be themselves, and live happily, or lose those people by suicide, have them homeless, or using drugs? As long as nobody is in danger from what they’re doing, why bother them? How does endangering LGBT people that aren’t harming anyone or anything, by being themselves, make sense whatsoever?

As far as marriage equality goes, statistics show that about 39% of the US population is homophobic, which is a higher number than it should be. Back in June, a vicious nightclub shooting against the gay community took place, killing 49 people and injuring 53. Although gay marriage is legal throughout the US, hate crimes are still happening, and that shouldn’t be the case. During your presidency, hopefully keeping your word about LGBT protection will make the LGBT community more secure.

For we are all human, and we are all different. Sexual orientation and gender identity are just a couple of the many things that makes us who we are, and they should be able to be expressed freely. In the United States of America, we all have human rights that shouldn’t be taken from us. We can marry who we wish to marry now, because love is love and that’s the way it should be. Now we just need more acceptance and understanding, from everyone. We only get once chance to live life, why not live it fully, as our true selves? I want to live in a safe place for the next 4 years. It is important we unite, and you keep your word to make us secure as well.