One Transgender Man’s View on America’s Descent into Madness:
OLIVER PULCHER ONLINE EDITOR:
On Sept. 9, 2015, I came out as transgender. What followed after was pain. A lot of it. Throughout my high school years, I was consistently harassed and assaulted, both verbally and physically. I was physically attacked in bathrooms more times than I could count, during which was shoved into walls, punched, kicked, and choked a few times. I heard the words tranny, dyke, freak, shemale, and bitch more times than I can even remember. Somehow, it became a natural occurrence. The words became ingrained in my mind. I was so terrified of being shoved, cornered, or humiliated on a day to day basis that I avoided most school hallways. My senior year, the guys in my weightlifting class threatened to sexually assault me, then “take me out
back and shoot me” if I ever attempted to come into the boys locker room. The fact that on several occasions I was told to just kill myself because the world would be better off without me still grips my soul. The more I attempted to forget it, the more I couldn’t forget. I am thankful that administration dealt with them, but nothing my classmates threatened me with could ever compare to the pain of knowing that my father disowned me for who I was. On Jan. 22, 2019, The Supreme Court of The United States voted 5-4 to allow Trump’s transgender military ban to go into effect, a move that not only affects transgender military members, but transgender
people everywhere. In a single move, SCOTUS has set a precedent of transphobia and, while I’m not all too surprised, I am disgusted, appalled, and infuriated all the same. Legislators have been using my existence as a fear mongering tactic for far too long. I am done. I’m done having conservative friends write posts defending Trump. I am tired of them saying they support me and then they turn right around and say my rights aren’t worth jack to them. This isn’t a political disagreement; these are my rights and my ability to live free from persecution. Many people in America don’t seem to get that. You can not support Trump and not be bigoted. It’s as simple as that. America has willingly gone blind to the attacks on minority rights this administration has taken on. Americans need to recognize that you cannot tell the people you love, your friends and family members, that you support them while simultaneously cherry-picking your rights over theirs. I’m done being used as a political pawn. I’m done being that transgender friend conservatives use to claim they aren’t “truly transphobic.” I’m done explaining myself and constantly justifying myself. I’m done going the extra mile in every single aspect of my life and then being told that I could be arrested for going to the bathroom. I, and every other minority, no matter how different we may be, are all human beings. Pay attention and listen closely, because my existence is not a political argument. And, before you know it, the next rights he decides to cut might be yours.
