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.