I am not transgender. I don't personally have anyone close to me that is transgender. I consider myself a balanced person who welcomes healthy debate and values outside opinion. But I am also a human being who believes in the right for all other human beings to live and be happy, and that is truly what this "debate" comes down to.
It's more than bathrooms. It's more than ceramic bowls and excretion of bodily fluids. It's way more than "political correctness," it's hatred and bigotry. It's human beings standing up and proclaiming that they believe their life is more important than another human beings life.
When 41 percent of a demographic is attempting suicide, compared to 4.6 percent of the general population, we have a problem a lot bigger than bathrooms.
I believe that I have a relatively strong sense of my identity and who I am, and that I happened to win the societal lottery by identifying as a heterosexual female. At the end of the day, I struggle with sadness and loneliness and some days are really, really hard. I simply cannot imagine what it would be like to struggle on a daily basis with who I am, and then finally accept myself, only to have society turn around and slap me in the face.
These are not choices people make. These are not social media trends that have sprung out of nowhere and will quickly fade away. These are human identities that are being shut out of society for no reason other than hatred. The fact that we are even debating the rights and dignity of these individuals in our society is truly deplorable.
Sharing bathrooms with those who are different than me doesn't make me uncomfortable. What makes me uncomfortable is that one day one of my peers might feel so shunned from society that they will take their own life. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that there is a 1 in 5 chance that I will be raped by a heterosexual male on my own college campus. I am more uncomfortable with the fact that I could be kidnapped and raped in a Target parking lot than sharing a public restroom inside the store with someone who is different than me.
I think that this is a matter of dusting off our kindergarten skill sets and remembering those ever basic rules. Remembering to treat others how we, and our loved ones, would want to be treated. Going back to learning that people are different than us, and that is okay. Recalling that if we broke those rules, someone was going to get hurt and we were going to receive consequences. We would sit in the corner, do our time, and learn our lesson.
It's alarming that today these pretty basic rules of humanity are disregarded. Grown adults are breaking them, and instead of receiving consequences they are being rewarded. They are the ones that are given the ability to make policy decisions and gain media fame. They are breaking the rules, they are hurting other people, and they are not being reprimanded.
So I challenge you to do more. Set an example for our generation and future ones by making acceptance a part of your daily mantra. Because at the end of the day, this is much more than bathrooms. This is human life.
