Recently, I was talking to a classmate who is a lesbian. She told me that someone once told her “don’t knock it till you try it,” regarding men. I stopped her there. Before I ever kissed a boy I knew I liked them. Nobody has ever suggested I make out with, or date, a girl. They accept me for being straight. So why can’t we just accept people being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, asexual, cisgender, androgynous, or however else people identify themselves?

I am SICK and TIRED of people spewing BS about this bathroom thing. I don’t even think this should be an issue. Since it has become one, I don’t want to say people ‘self-identify’. People ARE. You are who you are. Humans should be able to use whatever bathroom they want.

I was driving back to Vermont on Monday when I had to use the bathroom. We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts. They had single bathrooms with labels (one with Men and the other, Women). Sometimes the pee dance can’t save you and since there was nobody in the bathroom labeled for Men I decided to use it. When I walked out a man was walking towards the bathroom and a look of disgust was on his face. I smiled and held the door for him. If anyone should be grossed out, it should be me since I had to put the seat down. Ah, well. I just took it as me opening his mind and welcoming him to 2016, where no matter what your sex or gender you can use whatever bathroom you so please. I am sure he would have been more displeased had I peed on the floor. Hopefully, I opened his mind.

When you grow up you are generally forced into this little, narrow, gender binary box. When you are born, the nurse or doctor or nurse midwife excitedly cries, “it’s a girl!” or “it’s a boy!” What if we stopped forcing people into pink and blue, gender stereotypes and labeled bathrooms? From a young age, children are taken into gender specific bathrooms. When I was with my Father, I went into the Men’s room. When I was with my Mother my brother would go into the Women’s room. I always felt uncomfortable going into the Men’s room. Was it because they looked at me, wondering why I was in there? Was it because of the social construct of this whole idea being uncomfortable and not acceptable?

I had a dream last night, no not like MLK Jr., but a dream where I went into the bathroom and I ran into someone who may not have been born a woman. Guess what? It didn’t bother me.

Being pansexual means a human is attracted to another human regardless of their sex, or gender. Or, to break it down, it means a human being attracted to a human. This is a very easy concept.

Being transgender means a human was born one gender but is another. These humans should be able to use whatever bathroom they want.

Moral of this article: labels are stupid. Don’t label people. Love people. People are people.