The current national conversation is focused very heavily on those who are transgender, and whether or not they should be allowed to use their preferred gender bathrooms as opposed to the gender on their birth certificates.
If you're not aware, this issue is on a national spotlight because the state of North Carolina recently passed a bill requiring every citizen to use the washroom that corresponds with their biological genders, as opposed to their identified genders.
In general, I scarcely feel comfortable or entitled to talk about these issues, because I am not transgender and I have not struggled with my gender identity. It feels cheap if I'm telling people how to feel about an issue that I don't have personal experience with.
However, after seeing post after post and image after image of scornful, hateful, and ignorant views toward being transgender, I believe it's my obligation to speak out against them.
Unfortunately, I've seen a frustratingly large amount of people completely misunderstand the issue of being transgender and washrooms. I am writing this article to say this:
The hatred and willful ignorance of the issue need to stop.
Now, the problem with the transgender bathroom issue is that everyone is completely misunderstanding and misinterpreting what this bill is about, and why transgender people feel the need to use their preferred bathrooms.
Instead of realizing that this is an issue about equality and acceptance, a ridiculous amount of people are suddenly framing this argument to be about the safety of children.
There are countless posts and thought pieces and viral images that basically imply this:
"If we allow transgender people to use their preferred bathrooms, it could allow for a perverted man to come in and abuse our children. This is a dangerous law!"
When we say things like that, it misses the point. It's as if the only reason we can conceive of why someone would want to use a different bathroom is so that they could abuse children and spy on the other gender.
In response to a group of people saying that they feel uncomfortable in their own skin, we suddenly start raving madly about how we need to "protect" our children. We create an imaginary threat.
It could, however, pose a serious threat if somebody who has transitioned into a woman is forced to use the men's bathroom because of how they were born biologically, or vice versa.
In fact, a survey conducted by the Williams Institute showed that 70 percent of transgender people had reported experiencing harassment of some kind in a bathroom, and 9 percent had experienced physical violence against them in a bathroom.
If you're going to be against transgender bathrooms, let's admit the issue for what it is: transgender people don't seem real to you, or they make you uncomfortable.
What we forget so quickly is that transgender people are very much real. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, it's absurd to say that they are simply people playing dress up or that they don't truly feel that way. Nobody chooses to be transgender. It needs to be understood that these people sincerely feel that they were born in the wrong bodies. It's not an easy thing to deal with.
We know that these people are real if we actually think about it. However, those who claim to be loving and opening still insist on having a spiteful attitude toward those who are transgender. I've seen a ridiculous amount of hatred and ignorance about the issue.
Transgender people have ridiculously high suicide rates. 41 percent of people who are transgender have attempted suicide. I wholeheartedly believe it's because of a generation of people that belittle them, chastise them, and pretend they don't exist.
It's not funny to belittle or disregard this issue. It's not funny to share photos that imply that transgender people are just creepy men who feel like dressing up as girls. It's not funny to refer to these people as below the average person, or not worthy of our respect. And finally, it's not OK to treat these people with anything but love and respect.
This is literally a matter of life and death. We cannot afford to let our hatred control our actions.
I'm not telling you how to feel about being transgender or even how to feel about the issue of transgender bathrooms, but what I am saying is this:
Our hatred, mockery, belittlement, and failure to understand those who are transgender needs to stop immediately.
We cannot pretend to be loving and accepting when our reactions to those who make us uncomfortable or are different from us is to cover our ears and cast stones. We cannot pretend to be accepting of other people when the moment that we encounter an issue that is strange to us, we continue to mock and disregard its very existence.
For the sake of our own society, we need to wake up and remember that there is a human being behind every person that we mock and ridicule.
