Rafael SantosSantos 1J.LindbergEnglish IV-313 May 2015

The unequal and unfair treatment of transgender people in the United States is apparent within school settings, law, and social environments, and should no longer be tolerated in todays society. Recently, the Charlotte City Council rejected a nondiscrimination ordinance, preventing transgender people from using the bathroom they identify with (Portillo and Price). This clearly shows how trans people are unfairly treated in even professional environments, as they are not even allowed to use the restroom of the gender they identify with - this can lead to harassment and violence. Case in point: in a Huffington Post article, Jalisa Griffin describes how she routinely faces harassment when she attempts to use the womens restroom; in her words, "It's very aggravating. It adds so much stress to your life" (Swalec). This stress manifests itself in many ways as student Rukia Brooks said in a Garnet&Black article, I have had trash thrown at me [and have] been verbally harassed and threatened (Santos and Coker). As reported in Injustice at Every Turn: A Report on the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 78% of K-12 students reported alarming rates of harassment, which lead 15% of students to leave their current school (Grant, Mottet and Tanis). This piece of evidence is a clear indicator that students nationwide are forced to suffer through extreme stress daily simply for being themselves. The only way that this can be stopped is through a reevaluation of todays society to create safe environments in the realms of education and daily life for trans people.Works CitedGrant, Jaime M, et al. Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Survey. Washington D.C.: National Center for Transgender Equality, 2011. Web. 2015. .Portillo, Ely and Mark Price. "Charlotte LGBT ordinance fails 6-5 in contentious meeting." 2 March 2015. Charlotte Observer. Web. 13 May 2015. .Santos, Catherine and Caleb Coker. "TransCaolina." Garnet&Black 21.4 (2015): 19-22. Print.Swalec, Andrea. "Transgender New Yorkers Face Scorn And Violence Using Public Restrooms." 1 10 2012. Huffington Post. Web. 13 May 2015. .