On May 2, 2016, I was scrolling through my Facebook in between classes when I came upon a few trending posts from my friends. Everyone was throwing down their opinions for the usage of bathrooms by transgender people. At first I was confused by why such a strange topic was being brought up on my Facebook. Then after further reading, apparently some important people in the country decided to share their opinions, the state of North Carolina has some law that does something to transgender people and these both sparked conversations all over Facebook. That led me to what I am about to say:

This whole thing is nonsense.

I hear people talking about how they are afraid of who will be in the bathroom with them. They are scared for themselves and their kids. First of all, why are they scared? Those people have a right to express themselves any way that they seem fit, as long as it doesn’t intrude on the freedoms of somebody else. I don’t see how a transgender person going to the bathroom in one place instead of another is going to intrude on somebody else’s freedoms.

To the people who are really that scared for their safety, why? These people aren’t perverts. If anything, they would probably just try to go under the radar. The danger from letting transgender people use any bathroom they choose is about the same danger that something bad will happen anywhere. Nothing is new. Danger is out there, no matter what.

Some of my friends on Facebook brought up a good point. Port-a-Johns are used often at concerts, sporting events, etc. In gas stations, there are unisex bathrooms. In Europe, some of the bathrooms they have are unisex. Maybe we should just celebrate equality within the human race and create unisex bathrooms everywhere.

Instead of having urinals and stalls, we could just make it a room full of stalls. This way, we don’t have to identify with a specific gender to use a bathroom and everyone is happy. This could also help with costs and sanitation. It would cost less to have one bathroom rather than two, and it would be quicker and easier to clean.

There are people who make their arguments that they won’t let their children go to the bathroom with a transgender person in the room. I don’t see why that is an issue. People fear that this will cause molestation to occur in the bathrooms. This is why we should just get rid of the standard female-male bathrooms and replace them with unisex bathrooms. Then everybody will do their thing in the same area.

While this is new territory for society, I think it is important that we embrace this change. Transgender people are choosing their identity and they are choosing how they wish to express themselves. It is their first amendment right to be able to express themselves, and we as a country should respect that right. Equality means equality, and the people who don’t agree out of fear need to realize that not every new change is dangerous.