I could be writing about a lot this week. I could talk about how much home still sucks, how I drove back down to Baltimore only eight days after graduation, how annoying it is to try and sustain fresh vegetables, how Loyola could have been in the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship if they had beaten UNC, and so much more. I will admit, I am still salty about losing in the semi-final game though…

Actually, speaking of North Carolina (not UNC specifically, because they are a wonderful school), a lot of controversy has circled around that new law that requires transgender individuals to use the restrooms of their anatomical sex. To be honest, I think it’s dumb that everyone has been making a big deal of it. I think it is dumb that North Carolina has resorted to this practice. I think that the law doesn’t need to be there no matter how many times someone poses the “rapists in bathrooms” argument.

Ultimately, in this liberal age and with media controlling our brains, I thought there was a consensus among the American population that this law was stupid. Why is it such a problem that a transgender person would be peeing next to me? Is it uncomfortable? Yea, it is, but they have the right to pee where they feel comfortable. I would have wanted the same and how can we tell if someone is transgender anyways?

However, I guess some people, or a lot of people for that matter, feel strongly against letting transgender men and women use the restroom of their identified sex.

Numerous times I have been asked, “Why do you follow FOX5 News?” like it’s a joke that I follow FOX. And to answer that question, I don’t think it really has to do with my political views; I kinda just grew up with FOX. I love watching the news, and I loved watching the news when I was younger. FOX5NY was the only newscast on at 10 p.m. and the 11 p.m. newscasts ran way past my bedtime. It wasn’t because I had views (I was 8 for God's sake… I just wanted ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner). I watched it because it fit my schedule best. That’s it.

I never felt something wrong with FOX. I even had a professor who was an anchor on FOX Baltimore, and she was a pretty cool lady. I decided to follow FOX5 on Facebook so I could scroll upon numerous different articles, whether they were useless or not (not gonna lie though, mostly useless). But I enjoyed that, and still enjoy it.

For as long as I remember, despite living in a conservative bubble, I never had anything against the LGBTQAI+; in fact, I am fascinated by their community. With the whole Caitlyn Jenner story and the premier of "I Am Jazz," it is no doubt that the Transgender community has been able to voice their opinions and stories of struggle more than ever before. There is also no doubt that living the life of a transgender person is more accepted in this day of age. I thought with social advances like DOMA, then overall legalizing gay marriage in the U.S., that almost everyone accepted the culture of the LGBTQAI+ population.

On May 27, 2016, FOX 5 news shared an article titled, “’My Right to Pee’: Transgender woman takes selfie in woman’s bathroom,” on Facebook. The article is about well-known transgender activist, Janice Allison, who took a selfie inside a woman’s bathroom in her home state of North Carolina. Genetically male, Janice wanted to prove that she is not a threat and that this law is stupid. She wanted to prove a point and an injustice. Naturally, I thought everyone would be on Janice’s side, praising her for her courage, admiring the fact that this law was injustice and non-inclusive, etc.

This was not the case. FOX5 Facebook followers posted comments under the article that ranged from, “You’re an ugly woman you freak,” to “He needs psychiatric help,” and even went to “All gays are sick and have HIV.” There were loads of nasty comments and the negative ones clearly outnumbered all the positive ones; actually, to be honest, I don’t even think there were any positive comments when the article was initially posted.

(Original FB post with comments can be found here.)

Personally, my favorite was, “All trannies need mental help. The people who support trannies can also use the same mental help.” Does that mean I need mental help? Lol. I laughed at this one.

The comments went on and on with name calling, people making sarcastic statements, fearing that this woman had bad intentions.

It was obvious that the ignorance toward transgender individuals is still present, even after all of the advancement in LGBTQAI+ acceptance. Transphobia is a thing, and apparently, social media is the best way to express it. Though many of these comments are hateful and mean, I solely believe that there is just a lack of education and a lack of acceptance. Once people realize that transgender people are humans and just expressing who they really are, I feel the world will be more at peace.

The biggest concern that the comments expressed were the possibilities of child molesters entering a restroom. Comments relating to this topic trumped all others in my opinion. God forbid, a parent wondered, what if their daughter entered the bathroom at the same time as a male rapist posing as a transgender woman? These concerned people made it seem that transgenders enter a bathroom solely to molest and sexually abuse the other people in there. Janice was targeted a couple of times, implying she was molesting the girls in the bathroom…?

Ridiculous I know, yet still concerning and I understand that.

Well, sources say that certain subgroups within the transgender community (specifically youth, people of color, people experiencing homelessness and those with disabilities) suffer sexual violence and abuse at much higher rates than an average person. Hate crime against transgender people are even more astonishing. Fifty percent of fatal violent hate crimes towards the LGBTQAI+ happen to be against transgender women; in addition, genital mutilation was also common in these events. Being a transgender person of color only makes matters worse as this population experiences even higher rates of hate crimes.

With these facts, I think it’s safe to say that the transgender community has a lot more to worry about than molesting your son or daughter in the bathroom. Therefore, I find this argument invalid and the fear absolutely ridiculous. It is not illegal to express your gender and who you really are; you can’t sue someone for that. It becomes illegal when someone is actually harassed and assaulted in a bathroom; it becomes illegal when someone pretends to be something different to take advantage of another human. The transgender community is not pretending; it is who they are.

I applaud the folks who tried to resolve this problem to cater to both populations. However, I still don’t see the resolution.

“Let’s just have three separate bathrooms. Men, Women, and Trans,” was a solution that was mentioned a couple of times. But doesn’t this cause even more segregation? And with this segregation, doesn’t this make transgender individuals an easier physical target?

The transgender community has been segregated enough, so is it right to segregate them even more? If you recall correctly, America already tried the whole segregation thing, and it didn't work out that well. The one wish that many transgender individuals want is to fit in with society; they want to blend in with their gender and become their desired gender, physically. Having a transgender man go into the men’s restroom is affirmation that he is male; it makes him feel part of this world.

You can compare this to the mental illness stigma in a college campus setting and counseling center protocols. There have been so many instances where a college student in distress has been sent home because they mentioned physical harm or suicide in a closed and confidential setting. The excuse being, “The University cannot accommodate the person,” so trying to accommodate the person in distress, they create a separate place for them to go: home. Does this help the situation? Hell no! All the student wants to do is stay on campus, but instead, the school is forcing the student home. This is like forcing a transgender individual into his or her on bathroom when all they want to do is live a normal life.

In addition to this segregation, it still feeds into transphobia because a typical person will still get their own bathroom; since they want nothing to do with transgender, they don’t have to if there is a separate bathroom labeled “trans.” Creating this extra restroom just feeds into the negative stigma of the word “transgender.”

Though I am open to this solution, I still do not think it will resolve anything.

Of course, we got our Christian folks out there, who’s comments threw it back to the Adam and Eve era. The Bible does frown upon the idea of making up your own gender identity and redesigning your sexuality, and I can respect that. But doesn’t the Bible also teach love and to love our neighbor? Love the gentile? Love the leper? So instead of throwing shade at a community that is isolated to begin with, let’s show them some love. Your views and religious views might not agree with their lifestyle, but don’t let this hinder you from learning about someone else.

With all the advancements in making our community all inclusive, we are still taught to fear the unknown, and to fear the different. Through these FOX5 article comments, it is clear that many more advances need to be made in order to make our world more inclusive and more understanding. You don’t need to like the transgender community, but at least that the initial step to educate yourself about their struggles and their community. They are human, and so are you. transphobia is real, but there is nothing to be afraid of.

Disagree with me? Think Transphobia doesn’t exist? Are these commentators right? Were they not too harsh? Comment below! I would love to hear other perspectives and to start a conversation on this topic.

And educate yourself about Janice Allison! She is a great woman advocating for transgender rights. Her story is quite amazing, so google her up!