by Drew Howerton, staff reporter

“This bill allows men to go into women’s bathrooms simply by claiming that they identify as a woman.”

“Don’t be fooled: Politicians are giving sexual predators full access to women’s restrooms under the guise of being transgender.”

“Do you want a man showering with your daughter?”

At the confusing age of sixteen, I hear these words come from what feels like every advertisement on YouTube, news outlets, and daytime television commercial that found its way to me. Worse than the constant disorientation, the assault of buzzwords that equate my existence to criminal activity, is that I hear these words from adults I trust, whether it be teacher or parent. Living as a gender-confused student in Texas, bigotry is something I’ve unfortunately come to expect from living around people with outlooks about as small as the towns they grew up in.

I’ve learned to handle hatred and confusion to a certain extent, to build up my defenses against bigotry that relies on “my-made-up-truth-is-always-right” ignorance. But the one type of bigotry that I will never be able to ignore is the kind that is shrouded in fear-mongering and hypothetical scenarios that have no facts to back them up, the variety that almost always comes wrapped up in a little package that has become known as “Religious Freedom Bills.”

For a little background, the trend of anti-LGBT+ (that is, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other community) bills being passed into law under the guise of “Religious Freedom Bills” began with a bill in Indiana known as Indiana Senate Bill 101, which was signed into law in March of last year by state Governor Mike Pence. Essentially, the bill stated that any business owner had the right to refuse a gay customer service solely on the basis of “religious freedom.”  If I were a Christian baker, and I didn’t want to bake a cake for a gay wedding, Senate Bill 101 allows me to refuse service to man and husband. The bill received national attention, from anti-gay groups who applauded Governor Pence’s “bravery,” to celebrities and activists expressing their outrage over the content of the bill. Although Pence defended the bill, eventually he signed into law a provision protecting members of the LGBT+ community.

While this probably wasn’t the first anti-LGBT+ law, it was the first one that really stuck out in people’s mind. In the time since, bills have been introduced in North Carolina, Mississippi and Georgia, and those are just the ones that have been in the national spotlight. Ever since same-sex marriage was legalized in all fifty states, angry bigots have been finding ways to get out of following the law and discriminating against groups of people.

And as nasty as Religious Freedom Bills are, what scares me just as much, if not more, are “bathroom bills,” or bills that are meant to keep transgender people from using the bathroom that aligns with their identity. In November of last year, a bill in Houston that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom that coordinates with their gender was shot down. An effort to stop “men from using women’s restrooms” spewed out of nearly every T.V. that was close to Houston.

Upsetting phrases that called transgender people “men pretending to be women” blasted across my Twitter timeline and wormed its way into my ears through TV commercials, both on TV and showed to me by friends. My still-developing mind and identity was assaulted with anxiety-inducing phrases, phrases that I’m used to being called on a daily basis, phrases that somehow still hurt me because they came out of the mouths of adults that I thought I could trust.

Laws like these don’t actually have the message of freedom that they advertise. Religious Freedom has become an excuse to hurt people (not to mention that the religious freedom offered is really only meant for Christians and not members of minority faith groups) , and protecting women and children has become a statement against transgender’s ability to use the restroom they prefer.

One of the arguments against fighting vicious bills like these states that because same-sex marriage has been legalized, the fight for LGBT+ rights is over. But the very existence of these laws shows that the fight for equality may never be over.

Any time the topic of equality comes up, it’s hard for me to envision swarms of people sitting outside of the White House, or the “we’re-gonna-sit-here-and-not-move-until-you-give-us-what-we-want” type protests that Fox News loves to make fun of. Instead, I always think of my own fight, the fight that I somehow have to start over and lose every single day. Will I ‘man’ up and use the restroom i’m comfortable with? Probably not. That’s not to be a pity party statement, it’s more of an unfortunate truth that right now, I’m not afforded the same privileges as others because of the legislature passed and the place where I live. The fact is that whether or not you feel like you’re affected by a law, somebody else is. Whether it’s a law that affects people who like ketchup on their hot dogs, or an declaration that kills a thousand children in Syria, laws affect real people.

When the next Religious Freedom Bill does show up on the next ballot, take a minute to consider the language being used. Once you’ve considered that language and how it affects someone else, feel free to exercise your right to vote.

Just make sure your vote is the right one.