Allowing transgender people access to the bathroom of their identity does not cause the public any harm. Furthermore, it is morally incorrect to deny a person the basic right to use the bathroom in a place that they feel included and safe. Blocking transgender access to the bathroom of their identity also has a negative effect economically on the states that practice it. Transgender people just want to belong in our society and use the bathroom in peace. This wish is being thwarted however, by a lack of education and misinformation in the general public about this topic. Restrooms are meant to be used to simply go to the bathroom, not as political talking points.

What should be the simple task of going to the bathroom is being turned into a much debated issue across America. On the one side, you have conservatives that believe that transgender people having access to bathrooms of their identity puts children in danger of being molested in bathrooms. On the other side, you have America’s transgender population who are already one of the most marginalized and discriminated against groups, being denied the right to use the bathroom of their identity. Caught in the middle of this argument in America’s transgender population, who simply want to be able to use the restroom in peace without fear of harassment or legal intervention.  Being caught in this disagreement can be traumatizing for anyone, but it is especially traumatizing for America’s transgender youth. Growing up, kids just want to be accepted, transgender kids are no different. “Bathroom Bills” can be extremely detrimental to transgender youth, because “transgender youth just want to feel accepted and to be able to use the bathroom just like their peers.” (Hart,7). Transgender youth want society to view them as the gender they identify as that is why “bathroom access is vital for transgender students’ integration into society as members of their chosen gender” (Hart,3). Conservatives believe that transgender bathroom access will put children in danger, but in reality a transgender bathroom ban is what is really putting kids in danger. Forcing children to use bathrooms that do not correspond to their identity has serious emotional effects on them. This also singles out transgender students and makes them a target for bullying.

As transgender youth exit the public school system and start to transition to college, they will begin to face a new set of challenges. “Colleges are naturally segregated by gender, from dorms to bathrooms.” (Beemyn, 12). Most college dorms are segregated by gender. This means that for transgender colleges students, finding housing can be extremely difficult and dangerous. This “gender separation in dorms could mean that a transgender female could be put in an all-male dorm with male roommates since she was born with male genitalia.” (Beemyn, 13). Also, not being able to use the bathroom of their identity puts transgender college students under a lot of stress. This is on top of the stresses that they area already under as a college student. Putting one person under these high amounts of stress can be an extremely dangerous thing to do. College should be a happy and exciting time in your life no one should have to stress over where they will get to use the bathroom or if they will be forced to live in a building of a gender that they don’t identify with. The treatment of transgender college students often times leads to them feeling not accepted by society which has real world effects.

The transgender community has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, according to Kristy Seelman. She says that, “these high suicide rates and bathroom discrimination towards transgender people are directly related.” (Seelman, 2). The transgender suicide problem is a growing epidemic in America. “According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, fifty-one percent of transgender people have attempted suicide in their lifetimes.” (Seelman, 5) Discrimination facing the transgender community clearly correlates to these high attempted suicide rates. “The attempted suicide rates for transgender people are particularly high in high school and college aged kids.” (Seelman, 6). Bathroom Bills are killing off America’s transgender youth at an alarming rate and must be stopped. 

Denying a transgender person access to the bathroom of their identity is not just bad, but it is dangerous. It is also a very unconstitutional thing because it is obviously a clear example of discrimination. So called ““Bathroom Bills” are very similar to the Jim Crow Laws to segregated bathrooms by race in America in the early 20th century” (Stein, 47). Congress acted at that time to end segregation, and they need to act again to end this segregation. Segregation of any kind is put in place by society to separate people that society views as inferior from the public. The only reason that “Bathroom Bills” are put into place is because people still do not believe that being transgender is a real thing. They incorrectly believe that being transgender is a choice which it is not. It is very difficult for a cisgendered person, someone who identifies with the gender of their birth to understand what it is like to be transgendered. This lack of understanding all too often leads to a lack of empathy which allows “Bathroom Bills” to be passed segregating transgendered people from the rest of the people of the gender that they identify with. These segregation laws don’t only affect transgendered people; they often have a negative effect on the States that pass them such as the negative economic impacts that have recently effected North Carolina.

In March of 2016, North Carolina passed House Bill 2 which denied transgender people access to the bathroom of their gender identity. “Since the passing of House Bill 2, the state has lost at least $630 million.” (Jurney, 1). This quote shows that numerous businesses left the state because they did not want to support a state that would pass laws discriminating against its citizens. College sports such as the “NCAA and ACC pulled their championships from North Carolina costing the $91 million dollars in revenue” (Jurney, 1). North Carolina also lost out on a large quantity of money when business like PayPal and Deutsche Bank froze plans to expand in that state. Now Texas is planning on passing a “Bathroom Bill” very similar to North Carolina’s and it is on track to do just a much economic damage to that state. According to Reuters “Investors are threatening to pull $11 billion dollars out of the state of Texas, if the Texas Privacy Act is Passed” (Herskovitz, 3). These large economic losses mean that “Bathroom Bills” have a negative impact on everyone in the states that they are passed, not just transgendered people. All of these negative impacts could be avoided if we allowed transgender people the right to use the bathroom in peace instead of trying to segregate them from the rest of the people of the gender that they identify with. These negative economic impacts are bad for the states that pass “Bathroom Bills”, but they are a good sign overall that not everyone is as bigoted as law makers. The fact that a business would decide to not invest in those select states, demonstrates that not everyone in America is against transgender people. This is very important since things are not looking great for the transgender community at this moment.

In November, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States of America. Unlike the previous president, he and his party have taken a strictly anti transgender platform. This is a sharp contrast to the pro transgender platform of the Obama administration which led to transgender students being allowed to use the bathroom in their school that they identified with. In early March of this year, “the Trump administration revoked federal guidelines specifying that transgender students have the right to use public school restrooms that math their gender identity.” (Brown, para. 2). This policy change has led to chaos in the United States of America’s public school system, because “it gave no guidelines as to what to do with transgender students who have been using the bathroom of their identity.” (Brown, para. 5). Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy Devos, said that “communities, and families can find and in many cases have found solutions to protect all students.” (Brown, para. 5). What Devos and President Trump do not understand is that no students are in danger because of transgender kids using the bathroom that they identify with. Transgender students are already susceptible to higher rates of bullying than most other kids. Not allowing them to use the bathroom that they identify with is going to make them stand out in the bathrooms of their birth gender. This can lead to even more bullying and problems. Transgender students and adults want the same thing as the rest of us, to simply belong.

Transgender bathroom segregation is wrong, but it is done out of fear for the safety for people’s children and lack of understand of what it is like to be transgendered. Conservatives believe that allowing transgendered people access to the bathroom of the gender that they identify with will make it easier for pedophiles to prey on young children. This is a legitimate fear, but not backed up by any facts. There have been no recorded attacks in bathrooms by transgendered people. There are numerous fake examples of attacks by transgendered people in bathrooms, but they are all fake, because there have been no legally reported attacks. Most of these fake news stories come out of news sources that are heavy right leaning sources. People need to pay closer attention to where they get their news from. What those people who are trying to protect kids don’t understand is that in their attempt to keep kids safe, they are putting transgender kids in danger. It is important to understand that every action bears a consequence and that sometimes laws that are meant to keep people safe can put just as many people in danger. Wanting to use the bathroom of the gender that you identify with does not make you a rapist. Transgender people just want the right to use the bathroom in peace like the rest of the public.

The argument for transgender bathroom access is an extremely important argument. It is 2017, and there is still government supported legal discrimination against the transgender community. According to a recent survey, “51 percent of transgender people have attempted suicide in their lifetime.” (Seelman, 5). If this growing epidemic is allowed to continue unchecked, these numbers could continue to rise. There are many solutions to this problem, such as making all bathrooms gender neutral. It is very clear that “making bathrooms gender neutral, would take most of the stress and fear out of going to the bathroom for transgender people.” (Wilson, para. 2). Gender neutral bathrooms do not just benefit transgender people, but they can benefit the lives of countless Americans. Gender neutral bathrooms can benefit “parents who have children of different gender from them, and caregivers of people who are not of the same gender.” (Wilson, para. 3). Also single occupancy restrooms would fix many of these problems. For places, without gender neutral bathrooms, “if you see a transgender person entering the bathroom then you should make sure that no one bothers them.” (Wilson para. 4). Transgender people need to know that not everyone is going to bully and ostracize them for simply trying to go to the restroom. Gender neutral bathrooms, and single occupancy bathrooms would solve the problem of bathroom discrimination towards transgender people. They would not solve however, the greater issue which is a society that would so quickly discriminate against people for trying to be who they really are. To solve this problem, Americans are going to have to learn to empathize for people that are different from them and to not listen to the lies and hatemongering that is coming out of right-winged news sources. People also have to educate themselves on the transgender community, and to understand that they are not pedophiles, but simply people who want to live their life the way that they feel is best. As a member of the LGBTQ community, this issue is extremely important to me. For almost all of our countries history, my community has been discriminated against. Gays and lesbians, have gotten more rights and have been general accepted by the rest of the population. Transgender people on the other hand, are still discriminated against daily and are one of the most marginalized minorities in America. The issue of transgender bathroom access, is not just important to the transgender and LGBTQ communities. This issue should be important to all the citizens of American. That is because in this country where every person should be free, and have basic human rights, transgender people are being discriminated against. Numerous states are passing discriminatory laws against the transgender community, and people are sitting idly by. There is no difference between the current bathroom segregation against the transgender community, and the bathroom segregation towards the African American community in the early 20th century. We as Americans cannot continue to allow this institutionalized discrimination to continue. 

Transgender people in America, just want to be able to use the bathroom in piece like the rest of us. Not allowing a person to use the bathroom of the gender that they identify with is discriminatory and wrong. “These practices are causing the suicide rate in the transgender community to rise.” (Seelman , 5). So called “Bathroom Bills” are being passed to supposedly keep America’s youth safe from child predators. However, there is no proof that allowing people to use the bathroom of the gender that they identify with puts children in danger. Additionally, these laws that are meant to keep children safe, are hurting thousands of transgendered youth across our nation. These laws are being passed out of fear and lack of understanding for the transgender community. If people could just take a step back and try to empathize and see the world from a transgender persons point of view, then they would understand that transgender people just want to use the bathroom in peace. So called “Bathroom Bills” don’t just hurt transgender people, but they also hurt the economies of the states that pass them. In today’s modern time, it is shameful that there is still government sponsored discrimination towards a community of people. Allowing transgender people the right to use the bathroom of the gender that they identify with causes no harm to the public. 
