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Daniel Ford

Ms Munoz-Matheny

English 10, Period 7

19 April 2019

The Freedom to Become Who You Are

Freedom is the most important thing to our society and rightfully so, so why shouldn't we

have freedom of identity. “Sixty-three percent (63%) of [Transgender]participants experience

serious acts of discrimination—events that would have a major impact on a person’s quality of

life and ability to sustain themselves financially or emotionally”(Grant). Imagine a little boy

who simply wants to go to the bathroom because he has been holding it through third-grade

math. Instead of going to the restroom like all the other little boys, he has to either go up three

flights of stairs to the staff bathroom or go to the nurses office where he has to sign in. The worst

part is that he has to sign in with a girls name, one that he didn't choose, one society forced on

him. Transgender and Gender Nonconforming people throughout the country and the world are

facing major discrimination. There is little amount of social and legal freedom of identity and

there has been major but slow and hard progress for freedom of identity.​ ​Although some think

that it would negatively impact assigned gender conformists, transgender people and people who

don't fit predetermined binary gender ideas should be given full recognition for chosen identity.

Giving full social and legal freedom of identity would make healthcare and operations more

accessible and safe for gender non-conformists, this action would do a lot of good for minimal

cost, and this would further the worlds stride for universal equality and abolition of

discrimination.
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It is thought by many that transgender health care is a free beauty treatment that isn't a

real necessity. However, giving non-assigned gender full recognition of identity would make

surgerys, operations, and all medical needs more available and safe. Transgender people face

discrimination in the systems set in society, including health care. Research has been done to

show that, “​transgender people face high levels of discrimination in society, which may

contribute to their disproportionate risk for poor health” (Miller). This suggests that our society

is set in a way that favors people who fit the binary and predetermined ideas suggested by our

birth sex. This lack of equality in our systems puts transgender people in disproportionate

danger. “half of the hormone-experienced study participants had obtained their hormones from

someone other than a doctor” (Poteat). This illuminates just how hard it must be for people to get

the care they need in order to turn to such dangerous methods. The overwhelming bias in our

current systems leaves transgender people discriminated against and unsafe because of the lack

of acceptance and recognition of their identities.

A large concern for many people is that government support of transgender identity and

medical assistance is a large expense that is not worth it. The fact is non-traditional gender

identity recognition would benefit many lives and cost very little. A large concern of many

individuals is the cost of government systems put in place to help gender-nonconforming

citizens. An example many people bring up is the cost of transgender healthcare of military

service members. A lawsuit against Donald J. Trump put forth by five transgender members of

the armed forces was in response to a tweet from Trump describing the military as “burdened

with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail”

(Trump) This lawsuit and tweet show the obvious disregard for transgender rights in the face of
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government funds in not only our administration but in our country as a whole. Research put

forth by the RAND corporation, a nonprofit that does research for the armed forces, suggests,

despite the President’s claims, that “health care costs would increase by between $2.4 million

and $8.4 million annually, representing a 0.04- to 0.13-percent increase” (Schaefer). This goes to

show that the notion that transgender care is a huge government expense is quite hyperbolic. The

recognition and care for all people including transgender officers in the military would cost little

and would be a huge help to over 2.000 people's lives.

Finally and most importantly this is a huge issue for equality versus discrimination in our

modern world. Despite what many people say is simply a small inconvenience, Transgender

people face huge amounts of discrimination everyday. A prime example is the fight that can be

found in the everyday use of a restroom. In his article, “My Bathroom Struggle as a Transgender

Student” Ryan Cassata, a transgender singer songwriter talks about how he had to go up three

flights of stairs every day to use the staff bathroom instead of the lockeroom to change for P.E

and had to sprint not to be considered late. He used to use the bathroom in the nurse's office

along with the kids with physical disabilities but one day the nurse told him he had to start

signing in with his birth name instead of Ryan. This is a testament to the humiliation transgender

people face on a daily basis, to have to sign in every time you use the bathroom because you’re

not allowed in the normal one, and then to be told you cant even use your chosen name, the one

that is the real you. This illuminates the horrible struggle that gender nonconformity can create

for a person in just the subject of bathrooms alone. I had a talk with my biological father who

now lives as a transgender woman in America. She said, “​The worst discrimination has been

from my former church. I and my family were in effect totally eliminated from our community.
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Of course I can feel when people see me as some kind if freak, in the way they look at me or

speak to me”. This harsh reaction from a group that once called her family was a tragic

experience. This discrimination doesn't just affect the targeted individuals, I went to school at

that church for six years, and I had to leave, had to say goodbye to all my friends who would

continue to go there through high school. I had to say goodbye to all the people that used to say

that I could come to them for anything all because they didn't want to admit that “God made a

mistake.” God didnt make a mistake, God made the wonderful person who has been a supportive

parent my whole life, as a man and as a woman. Discrimination towards people who simply

aren't the gender that you think they should be is a horrible thing and recognizing people’s

chosen identities is a huge step for our society.

Gender nonconformists should be given complete social and legal recognition of chosen

identity. This would open up safe and affordable health care and legal change options, it would

be very beneficial and cost very little, and it would be a huge goal for the ending of

discrimination and for striving twords equality. We need to work together to make discrimination

of people with chosen identity go from sixty-three percent to zero percent. The people of our

town, our state, our country, and our world, need to come together and decide that someone's

freedom is more important than our comfort or our checkbooks.

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Works Cited

Cassata, Ryan. “My Bathroom Struggle As A Transgender Student.” ​The Huffington Post​,

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Feb. 2017,

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-bathroom-struggle-of-a-transgender-public-school_us

_58ae5acbe4b0ea6ee3d035bc​.

Grant, Jaime. “Injustice at Every Turn.” ​Transequality.org,​ 2012,

transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/NTDS_Report.pdf.

Miller, Lisa. “The Social Costs of Gender Nonconformity for Transgender Adults: Implications

​ iley Periodicals, September

for Discrimination and Health.”​ Onlinelibrary.wiley.com, W

2015

Poteat, Tonia, et al. “Managing Uncertainty: A Grounded Theory of Stigma in Transgender

Health Care Encounters.” ​Amazonaws.com,​ Elsevier, May 2013,

https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/44741765/Managing_uncertainty_A

_grounded_theory_o20160414-5603-1j50dfd.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYG

Z2Y53UL3A&Expires=1552432486&Signature=5wBZ%2FXEYcSVAin47JdzM5nZgz8

I%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DManaging_uncertainty

_A_grounded_theory_o.pdf

Schaefer, Agnes, et al. “The Implications of Allowing Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly.”

RAND Corporation,​ 30 June 2016, ​www.rand.org/pub`s/research_reports/RR1530.html​.

Trump, Donald (realDonaldTrump). “....victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous
medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.” 26
July 2017, 6:08 PM. Tweet.
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