A Public Announcement
Dear public,
This is an announcement
I'm here to announce that our children are suffering,
I'm here to tell you that our students are afraid to go to class,
They are risking their health to avoid ridicule, and why you might asked,
Because they were born just a little bit different,
See they were born transgender,
And it's of no fault of their own,
But unfortunately they will suffer anyways,
They will fear for their lives while walking down the street,
They will sweat at the thought of introducing themselves to new teachers,
And their health will suffer because they will avoid their schools gendered bathrooms every day for At least eight hours,
To someone on the outside this may not seem like a big deal,
But it has great effects
See according to the book Transgender people, by Tamara Thompson
41% of transgender individuals have attempted to commit suicide,
That's almost half,
To put that in perspective only 1.6% of the general population attempts suicide,
Trans youth do not feel safe in schools,
Maybe it's because 78% of us, grades k through 12, have reported harassment,
Or because 35% of that harassment is physical and 12% is sexeal,
There’s your logic or logos for the day, but if that's not enough
Let's try some emotion, some pathos
So I employ you,
Please tell me how we are supposed to learn when we're so distracted by the glares and discrimination around us we can barely catch our breath,
Tell me how am I meant to receive good grades when the my syllabus looks more like a death certificate ensuring my unwelcome in this binary setting of black and white,
Good and bad,
Boy and girl,
Here I quote a wise women by the name of Denise Fromam,
As she said in her poem, “Dear Straight People”
“Dear Straight Bullies,
You’re right. We don’t have the same values.
You kill everything that’s different, I preserve it.
Tell me, what happened to
Jorge Mercado?
Sakia Gunn?
Lawrence King?
What happened to the souls alienated
in between too many high school walls,
who planned the angels of their deaths in math class,
who imagined their funerals as ticker-tape parades,
who thought the afterlife was more like an after party.
Did you notice that hate
is alive and well in too many lunchrooms,
taught in the silence of too many teachers,
passed down like second hand clothing
from too many parents?”
End quote
It's been written time and time again,
The levels of hatred and non acceptance in schools is just too damn high,
and the only way to combat this issue is to lead by example,
We need teachers and staff to speak up,
We you to show your support for human rights,
We need you to do what you do best,
To teach us how to be functioning citizens,
To show us how to be productive adults,
And to protect us so we are capable of receiving the best education possible,
I am one of the lucky ones,
My school has gender neutral bathrooms,
My teachers and family do support me,
I am so lucky in fact that I had my first shot of testosterone this past monday on april 17th 2017,
And for these things I am forever grateful,
But there is still much work to be done,
And therefore I repeat
Dear public,
This is an announcement