We all need to use the restroom

My fellow classmate, Megan Lomas, wrote an article titled Bathroom Law Battle Begins to Take Hold in Texas, and I agree with her argument.  I believe that a transgender person should be able to use the restroom that matches their preferred gender choice.  A few blogs ago I made a statement about how we teach our children to judge- I feel like this is a similar situation.  Instead of teaching our children to embrace differences in people, we are teaching them to fear those differences.  I’ve been lucky enough to get to know quite a few people in the transgender community and they are real people, like you and me.  They too have families that love them, friends, ambitions, and feelings. 

My dad has been working with a transgender man for the past 25 years.  I remember when I first met him in the early 90’s, he was just in the beginning stages of his transition from female to male.  My dad explained the situation to me, without judgement, just the facts and that was that.  It doesn’t have to be a big deal.  We don’t have to discriminate against these groups...we choose to because people are afraid of embracing change. 

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign both report that there have been zero reported cases of people being attacked in bathrooms by transgender people.  However, an article in TIME magazine states that in 2015 “the number of transgender people murdered in the U.S. hit a historic high.”  I think we are hating on the wrong group of people.

What it comes down to is this, transgender people exist and they too need to use the restroom.  They deserve to have a restroom that they can feel safe using too.

Why and how is this legal?

I am completely baffled by the fact that gerrymandering is legal in Texas, or any state for that matter.  It makes me feel taken advantage of and makes me question how much control we really have.  Often times you hear people say “use your vote to make a difference”, but how in the world can we use our vote to make change if our votes are being manipulated by the legislators creating biased districts?  I think gerrymandering is the most frustrating facet of our government that I learned about this semester. There is absolutely no reason why it should be legal in any state.  Especially when there are other methods that outshine it.

As we we’ve talked about in class, there are ways to create fair and equal districts, for example the shortest split line theory.  Not only does this theory seem like an easier way to conjure up districts, but most importantly it is unbiased.  Unfortunately, I don’t think enough people care or even realize the severe consequences of gerrymandering to put their time into fighting to replace it. That is a truly disheartening fact. 

I know both parties are guilty of gerrymandering and perhaps I might be less bothered if my party was in the driver’s seat, but either way, it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.  Cheating is way too common in politics.  I feel like we need to send politicians back to elementary school and reteach them morals.  I did not realize how messed up our state politics are until I took this class.  After every class I find myself thinking why and how is this legal?