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Lori Waters's avatar

Antioch needs to convert every bathroom on campus to gender neutral and start the revolution. Let people pee in peace!

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Hann Henson's avatar

In 2016, I was a freshly transitioning trans man at a North Carolina college after HB2s passage. I remember what it was like. The first day I went into the men's room and was asked "are people like you supposed to be in here?" by a guy at the urinal. I was luckily never harassed, but the next time I went to the girls room and it was like a record scratch. They all looked at me and asked if I was lost. So I went back to the men's room. I wasn't there to make people uncomfortable, I just wanted to pee. I learned to wait until nobody was washing their hands in order to run out. I learned to keep my head down coming in.

Then Obama's DOJ sent out a call to trans people in the college system affected by the law as they litigated it. I met with the lawyers, who held my hand as I cried. "It makes me feel like my state thinks I'm a monster, a menace. That they don't want me."

I remember so distinctly one of the lawyers looking me in the eyes and saying "I want you to know that the president is on your side. The power of the united states government is here for you."

Say what you will about Obama, that was powerful stuff to hear. It kept me going. The government being for you or against you, we want to downplay it because it hurts, but it's huge. It means so much.

Now, the tables are reversed. NC is blue and the presidency is red. I only hope my state protects me.

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