The LGBT community has fought for their rights since the first riot at Stonewall in 1969. Recently, great strides have been made, specifically the US Supreme court passing the gay marriage law as constitutional across the entire country. Under the Obama administration there were even strides to protect transgender students in schools. Unfortunately, this progress has been reversed.
On Feb. 22, 2017 President Trump reversed the law allowing transgender students to use the bathroom that aligns with their correct gender, claiming that the law is not big enough to be dealt with at a federal level. States are now capable of making their own laws instead of everyone having the same right to use the bathroom.
Issues pertaining to civil and social rights should be dealt with at the federal level as every transgender person deserves the same rights.
Transpeople are not a threat in public spaces, and the fear that they will invade and ruin private spaces, such as bathrooms, alienates anyone who doesn’t conform to what’s seen as the “normal” person. The recall of a law that allows transpeople to feel safe in public takes away a sense of security that every person should automatically receive.
President Trump has preached before that his goal is to unite the country and to protect all types of people, but letting states decide on the safety of its citizens does not resonate with his message. The president has released no statements on the topic of an alternative solution to the bathroom problem since his election, and an effort to compromise is not evident.
If anything, the installation of gender neutral, or family bathrooms, into public spaces would give transgender individuals another option than the bathroom he or she is being forced into.