Trans teen Jazz Jennings posted a Target bathroom pic for a very important reason
No topic in human rights is hotter right now than the rights of transgender people, who continue to face harassment, violence, and discrimination throughout the United States.
Just ask Jazz Jennings, the 15-year-old trans teen and TV star who has made her name as one of the youngest people in the U.S. to go public (she “came out” on TV at age 6) and for doggedly advocating for LGBT rights. This week, Jennings stood up to be counted once again, taking to Instagram to make her stance on the issue abundantly clear by publicly thanking Target for allowing transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds with their self-identified gender.
“Peeing in peace,” Jennings wrote in the caption. “Thank you so much @Target for allowing all people to use the bathroom of their choice! #istandwithtarget ! Now, I advise everyone to stop making a big deal about all of this.”
The “big deal” Jennings is referring to is the recent spate of government-sanctioned discrimination against gay and transgender individuals. At the top of that list is North Carolina whose Republican-led government is fighting to protect HB 2, a recently passed “bathroom bill” that requires people to use the restroom that corresponds with the gender they were assigned at birth. State lawmakers insist that the measure is meant to protect people from so-called predators, but as many Americans and now the U.S. Department of Justice have pointed out, HB 2 is nothing more than a thinly-veiled excuse to promote discrimination against transgender individuals. Accordingly, North Carolina has decided to sue the Department of Justice.
“You’ve been told that this law protects vulnerable populations from harm – but that just is not the case,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch, herself a native of North Carolina, said in a statement after news broke of the lawsuit. “Instead, what this law does is inflict further indignity on a population that has already suffered far more than its fair share. This law provides no benefit to society – all it does is harm innocent Americans.”
We couldn’t agree more. Everyone deserves the same protections and rights no matter their gender identification. Let’s hope this disgusting law is taken off the books as soon as possible.