In today’s society we are constantly worried about other people, instead of worrying about ourselves. We worry about others sexual orientation and if they want to get married. We also worry about who uses which bathroom, which makes sense, but what if the people using the bathrooms identified themselves with another sex? There are people like that in the world and they are known as Transgender. They identify with the opposite sex and even at a young age many of them knew/felt as if they were in the wrong body, or that they were the wrong sex.

Many people fear transgender people using the bathroom because they think they will sexually assault their children or them. Well, that is very untrue, I know everyone is trying to say that they are trying to protect their children because they believe that if you were born a man then you should go to the men’s bathroom. If you were born a woman, then you should go to the woman’s bathroom. But, this does not simply work for people who identify as transgender because they do not identify themselves with the sex they were born with. People are so concerned about themselves that they fail to realize that transgender people are human too and all they want to do is use the bathroom where they feel comfortable. That is all they want to do, they don’t want to assault you, they don’t want to peek over the toilet stalls, they simply want to use the bathroom just like everyone else.

I have heard from many of people that the reason why they don’t want a transgender person to use the bathroom is because they are not using the appropriate bathroom. They also believed that they could possibly sexually assault them or their children. But, what many don’t know is that many transgender people are sexually assaulted every single year, and no one does anything about it. Some are even sexually assaulted by police officers while in jail. According to ovc.gov “One in two transgender individuals are sexually abused or assaulted at some point in their lives. Some reports estimate that transgender survivors may experience rates of sexual assault up to 66 percent, often coupled with physical assaults or abuse. This indicates that the majority of transgender individuals are living with the aftermath of trauma and the fear of possible repeat victimization”. Most transgender people have been sexually assaulted, and many people who have been sexually assaulted do not want to do the same actions to someone else because they know what it feels like.

You would be surprised by the people who actually commit these crimes, and these are the people you should be worried about, heck even your own child could be the one committing this crime. “For example, the 2011 Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 12 percent of transgender youth report being sexually assaulted in K–12 settings by peers or educational staff; 13 percent of African-American transgender people surveyed were sexually assaulted in the workplace; and 22 percent of homeless transgender individuals were assaulted while staying in shelters” (ovc.gov). You want to worry about a transgender committing a crime that has not yet (to my knowledge) been reported, why worry about something that has not happened. Young children who are transgender are being sexually assaulted by their teachers, principals, peers, and strangers. African Americans are being sexually assaulted while at work, and those only seeking shelter are being assaulted while in that shelter.

“Fifteen percent of transgender individuals report being sexually assaulted while in police custody or jail, which more than doubles (32 percent) for African-American transgender people. Five to nine percent of transgender survivors were sexually assaulted by police officers.Another 10 percent were assaulted by health care professionals” (ovc.gov). Transgender people are even being sexually assaulted by those who swore an oath to protect them and help them when they were sick or in need. But, as the statistics show, many people do not approve of a transgender people and they take advantage of them. Every, one out of two transgender people are sexually assaulted every single year, and the sad part is that no one defends them, no one stands up for them. Instead of embracing change we ostracize those who need our help the most when it comes to being equal. “In the NCAVP 2009 report on hate violence, 50 percent of people who died in violent hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people were transgender women; the other half were male, many of whom were gender non-conforming (ovc.gov). More than half of the people who suffered a hate crime were transgender! And, yet we can’t look up simple facts and see that transgender pose a lesser threat than a simple man. Transgender people suffer with their identity, but that does not mean they are going to sexually assault you while using the restroom.

All they want is to use the bathroom without being criticized and ostracized from society. People have irrational fears about something that has never happened and will most likely never happen. The only way this could happen is if someone would lie and say they were the opposite sex just to harm someone else. But, most people wouldn’t want to do this because they don’t approve of them, and if they were caught the consequences would be way worse. You would want to be treated equal no matter your sexual orientation or your gender. Just because you changed your gender does not mean you should be denied using the bathroom where you feel the most comfortable. I would not want to be a transgender man (who is actually a women) who is forced to use the woman’s bathroom. I would be more uncomfortable with a man who identifies as a woman using a woman’s bathroom because majority of the time they look just like a woman, they would feel uncomfortable in a man’s bathroom and could possibly be assaulted. Let, them use the bathroom they feel more comfortable in, they would not use the bathroom if they thought it would make you completely uncomfortable. But, they are also worrying about their safety also.

They are not going to sexually assault you and there are better things to worry about in society than if someone is a man or a woman and if they are using the appropriate bathroom. All they want is to be accepted by society and live a normal life, just like the rest of us. I don’t see any harm in that, everyone deserves to be happy and everyone deserves to use the bathroom with sex they identify themselves with, as long as they are not abusing this.

http://www.ovc.gov/pubs/forge/sexual_numbers.html

"Sexual Assault: The Numbers | Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault." Sexual Assault: The Numbers | Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.