BY: CLAIRE KIM
Discrimination between gender identity has still continued to cause debate and its definitely hard to choose which side I should stand on. However, after a long train of thought, I honestly believe that transgender students should be able to enter a bathroom like any other person.
It kinda puts me down that students even at a young age feel different or isolated because of their own health issues. It’s not fair how students that are transgender are pointed out as a “social disruption” just because they have changed between their sex hormones. This movement sought out by the U.S. actually shows how people are starting to open their eyes wider to the problems many are facing.
I have seen many controversies related to the idea of civil rights for same-gender marriage and other gender identity disputes, and it kinda shocks me how people look them as simply “weird”. Everyone is different, and being transgender is one of those moments where you do not have complete control over it. It’s a common idea that people forget.
The arguments about allowing transgender access to washrooms in public schools seems like a very sensitive topic. It strikes an impact on me that students feel sort of excluded from the rest because they are always having stress over which bathroom to go into. I completely agree with these words from John B. King Jr. saying, how “we must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they came from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment, and violence”.
I also realized from the other point of view how uncomfortable it must feel to be in a situation encountering a transgender person. I thought at one point how the government could just create bathrooms for transgender people so that no conflict would arise, but I was wrong. If we were to create separate bathrooms for transgender use, it would only make them feel even more unaccepted and may think they are not worth “fitting in”. This is a real dilemma.
In reality, there will always be a legal battle fought out in the political world, against transgender rights. To me, it honestly seems like an issue for all of us and we are just making it become worse and greater. I believe that we need to rethink how we treat others around us. Anyways, we all have our flaws so I think it’s better we spend our time learning how to embrace them instead of despising them.
claire kim. 