In this letter, I would like to show you why, and possibly encourage you to agree that schools, community centres, and other public facilities need least one gender neutral restroom stall and/or changing room for non-binary and gender nonconforming students, citizens and to the root of what we all are, humans.
I’d first like to explain to you what transgender and non-binary genders are, and why they’re important, and why transphobia affects us all.
I will start with transgender, transgender is the most commonly known non-binary gender identity, describing when a persons sex (what they were assigned with at birth based on their body) does not align with their gender (identifying as male or female), whilst sex is based upon what is between your legs, gender is based upon what is between your ears. Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes Transgender as:
“of, relating to, or being a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which
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Dysphoria is something that makes a non-binary person feel like they will never be right, safe or comfortable. For a transgender or gender nonconforming person, public restrooms can be not only uncomfortable and anxiety triggering, but extremely unsafe for people who have a different physical sex than their gender, a study in 1998 showed that 20% of all murders, and 40% of all police initiated violence (in the United-States) was bias-motivated against LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning/Queer, Intersex and Asexual) people; another study showed that 41% of transgender people participating in said study had attempted suicide, 55% had been harassed or bullied in school because of their gender identity, and 61% had been physically (64% sexually)