Dear Board of Health Members,

I write to implore you to consider the dangers behind those who created Petition 432. I have worked in the realm of education for several years now, and specifically with children who identify as members of the LGBTQIA community. These children have been bullied out of public school, and undergone serious mental health crises. Transwomen are not the cause of pain and turmoil, but rather the victims. For them to be dismissed from full participation in school and public life would be inhumane and cruel. They are a very small minority of our mainstream society, and often the ones tormented on a daily basis.

I want you to please attempt to fully understand what it is like for a person who despises their own biological anatomy to have to change clothes or use the facilities. Most of these young people hide in stalls. They are not flaunting their body - they eagerly wait for the day in which the body they were born into can match what they envision in their mind and spirit. What good can come of torturing these young people even more by forcing them into spaces where they are bullied, beaten, and fearful of? The facilities will need to appoint adults into positions where they have to actively monitor the situation, and that is very uncomfortable for most adults. 

Please consider deeply the effect your policies may have not just in general theory, but in the every day actions of what takes place. Thank you for your time and consideration.