Delaney B.

25th September 2016

President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Next President,

During your presidency, I want to see more change for rights of the LGBT+ community, especially surrounding the controversy on transgender bathrooms. With the rise of more open transgender people, there needs to be more bathroom laws or unisex bathrooms in all environments. Although it will most likely cause the loss of some supporters to your campaign, I believe it is evident that many more supporters will be gained and you will be making a step in the right direction for many people, therefore it is beneficial to you and the people in the community, who have not had complete rights of the average human in all of history. Although same sex marriage is now legal as of 2015, this is not enough and more change needs to be put into action.

Although many people express their worry of being assaulted by predators who claim to be transgender, many websites, such as Mic, state that this has never actually happened and is a misconception and that more transgender people have been sexually assaulted using the restroom. The Office for Victims of Crime states how one in two transgender people will be sexually abused or assaulted at some point in their lives. As Education Week says, the lack of transgender bathroom rights can increase and intensify the existing issue of bullying and harassment, as many transgender students say that they feel the restriction of transgender bathroom rights condones to the bullying and the feeling of unacceptance.

Another reason more action should be brought to transgender bathroom rights is due to the Title IX, which states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” from the U.S Department of Health. Because of this title, Education Week states that “schools must allow transgender students to access restrooms, locker rooms, and sex-segregated classes that align with their gender identity…”, yet this is not being carried out nor enforced by most places.

Ways action can be brought to transgender bathroom rights is to have students or their guardian notify the school that the student will assert a gender identity that differs from their biological sex or the previous records being held. There can also be change by placing bathrooms specifically for transgender people rather than the students using staff or handicap bathrooms, as those bathrooms do not serve for transgender individuals. These bathrooms would be a safer environment for transgender people if they were made with one toilet for once use at a time and either male, female, or unisex. These new bathrooms would help the statistics of sexual assault of transgender people decrease, make the transgender people mentally and physically safer, and give them more rights and work towards equality for the community, as well as the rest of the human race in terms of equality for all.

Sincerely,

Delaney B.