Humans have established their own rights in society for many years. However, because some humans differ from the norms that are built-in society, they are shunned and denied their rights until they conform to the idea of normalcy. There have been numerous groups of people who have been denied their rights in America.
African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and members of the LGBTQ community have been isolated simply because that is the way that they were born and others do not find them "normal". There is another group that has also been mistreated though; people who identify themselves as transgender.
The laws involving transgender persons vary by state, some giving complete choice, while others only receive limited. Most difficulties faced by transsexuals, transgenders, and people who identify as LGBTQ are rooted in the legal and social ambiguity of changing gender or sex status, which varies by country and culture.
For example, in the United States, many states either require expensive medical procedures in order to change legal documents or do not allow individuals to change the sex listed on their birth certificates or driver's licenses. Because many social interactions and structures are organized based on gender, transsexuals, and transgenders may face discrimination if they are perceived as gender-ambiguous or transgressive.
This daily discrimination may include refusal in public accommodations, violence on the street, and hate speech.
Being a transgender person, especially in a rural community, is not an easy task. As a result of the large percentage of conservative forces in rural areas, it can sometimes prove difficult to be outside of the status quo.
People are creatures of habit who are frightened by the prospect of change. Anything that is outside of their scale of social acceptance is sometimes looked at as wrong and intolerable. The same ideals exist in high school and colleges around the U.S. Adolescents are solely searching for one thing; acceptance.
Teenagers are forced to hide who they really are in order to avoid bullying, harassment, and verbal abuse. Young people are cruel and judgemental. They do not see the error in their actions until it is too late. A person of a different sexual status would be treated as a mutant, an outcast of society.
People should be free to be whoever they choose to be, without fear of judgment or input of others. The discriminatory actions against the LGBTQ community must be stopped.
There is no definition of normal. The word has a different meaning to us all. An LGBTQ person does not deserve to be treated poorly because of the way they were born and/or their lifestyle choices. Everyone deserves the opportunity to live their life the way they choose. Life is too short to conform to someone else's vision of normalcy.
The world as a whole needs to stop and realize that we are all people after a common goal; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
