After Prairie Ridge principal Dr. Koch announced the district’s accepting policy towards transgender individuals wanting to use their gender identity’s restroom and locker room, many students and parents alike undoubtedly felt some discomfort.

In my mind, to truly hold transgender teenagers as equals in our community, we must allow them the basic emotional security and self-assuredness of using the restroom matching their gender identity.

Why? Simple. Just imagine being forced to go into the opposite restroom because the majority dictates it is where you have to go. It would of course feel strange, uncomfortable, and/or just plain weird. Well, guess how transgender people feel going to the bathroom of their biological sex?

Transgender teens want to use the restroom matching their gender identity because it is their heart’s desire to do so, because they feel a sense of belonging there, a sense of emotional well-being. And they do not deserve the discomfort of going to the restroom where they feel they don’t belong.

There are, however, ever-present cisgender objections.

A simple Google search of “transgender bathroom protest” yields a thousandfold comments adamantly rebelling against what appears to be the placing of transgender rights (the minority) above those of cisgenders (the majority).

I concede that policies placing the majority’s comfort and security at risk are by nature unfair and partial. But even so, the specific idea of transgender teens using the restroom matching their gender identities violates no such rights.

To you, dear reader, I pose a simple question: when was the last time you looked around at the other people in the bathroom with you? If you have a hard time answering that, it’s most likely due to the simple fact that restrooms are not social hangouts.

People of all genders and gender identities go to the bathroom to take care of business and leave. That. Is. All.

I urge you then, dear reader, to wash your hands of your unfounded fears, which ultimately boil down to transphobic prejudices, and join me in accepting the transgender minority as equals in our student body.