Clear disdain

On April 10, the Daily Herald printed an "essay" on the front page from Vicki Wilson, a spokesperson for the group Parents for Privacy, regarding the topic of transgender bathroom and locker room access. Ms. Wilson claims that her group has been unfairly characterized as being hateful toward the transgender community simply because they disagree with permitting transgender kids to use the locker rooms and bathrooms of the gender with which they identify.

Contrary to that claims, many find her words and actions to be hateful toward transgender children simply because they are. As Ms. Wilson likes to reference definitions, the dictionary defines "hate" as "to feel hostility or animosity toward" to "detest," "to feel dislike or distaste for." I cannot think of a more clear expression of disdain than Ms. Wilson's constant mischaracterization of transgender kids as "struggling with gender identity," her continuous misgendering of Student A as a "boy" or her despicable insinuations that these children are predators.

Ms. Wilson can try to cloak her hatred with concerns about "privacy" but privacy has never been the issue. It is her group's ideological belief that transgender individuals do not, and should not have the right to, exist in society because they are the "minority." As Ms. Wilson likes to quote statistics in her essay, here are a few she should consider on her road to feeling empathy for all: 75 percent of transgender youth feel unsafe at school and those who are able to persevere have significantly lower GPAs, are more likely to miss school out of concern for their safety, and are less likely to plan on continuing their education (GLSEN national survey).

I want to thank the District 211 community for seeing through Ms. Wilson's fear mongering and voting for equality on April 4.

Carrie Gable

Palatine