Recently, the Selinsgrove Area School District created a new bathroom policy that allows students to use the bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers of their choosing based on their sexual identification. Also recently, a petition surfaced to remove the new policy. The main reasoning behind the removal is that the policy is dangerous and an invasion of privacy. 

Perhaps one of the most controversial issues of our time is the discussion of what rights a person who identifies as transgender should have, especially when dealing with public bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers. The answer, however, is simple. They deserve to be able to go shopping, go to school, and do other activities in public settings without having to stress out about which bathroom to use, and being ridiculed no matter which they choose. 

Something many people don't realize is that in public settings, such as at the store, you already use bathrooms with transgender citizens identifying as your sex. I know for a fact this is true, as one of my old coworkers was transgender, and they used the women's bathroom. No customers ever complained and no issues occurred. No one even knew. This happens everywhere you go. 

What baffles me is that at school, a place where transgender students are already picked on and teased for simply being who they are and doing what makes them happy, students who are transgender may not be able to use the bathroom of their choosing. I can see the concerns some parents may have, but the district knows who the transgender students are, and so if someone who is not transgender uses the opposite sex's bathroom, they would presumably be reprimanded. 

Another concern some parents may have is that the transgender students may harm their students in the locker rooms or bathrooms because they have different sexual organs. However, the transgender students just want to be able to use the bathroom and change for gym class with the people of their identified sex. They aren't using the opposite room for sexual purposes. They just want to be included where they feel they belong. If anything, the students that would be harassed in those opposite sex lockers and bathrooms would be the transgender students themselves, simply because everyone else in the room was born male or female, and they weren't. Also, of course, the transgender students don't have to use the bathrooms of their sexual identification if they don't want to, or feel threatened in doing so. 

Finally, I want to ask that you look at this issue from the perspective of the transgender students in our school. Imagine being a male forced to use the women's bathroom or locker room, or vice versa. It would be an incredibly uncomfortable situation. Imagine having to do that everyday. That would be extremely stressful. The transgender students at Selinsgrove Area High School genuinely feel that they are the opposite sex in every aspect except for the physical. 

If you still aren't sure whether or not the policy should be in place, I would just like you to give the policy a chance. It has not caused any problems thus far. If it does in the future, then maybe we should take another look at this situation. Until then, shouldn't we give each and every student a chance to learn in a minimally stressful, maximally accepting environment?