“It felt like a walk of shame.”
This is James Van Kuilenburg, a transgender 16-year-old boy from Frederick, Maryland.
Last Thursday, James and his mother, Nicola Van Kuilenburg, attended a Ted Cruz rally in their hometown.
James told BuzzFeed News he's interested in history, politics and the presidency. He said he talks about politics frequently with his parents and watches most presidential debates. Despite what Cruz has said about transgender people, James thought it would be cool to meet a presidential candidate.
Wrapped in a trans pride flag and donning a T-shirt from the National Center for Transgender Equality, James and his mother went to the campaign rally at the Weinberg Center for the Arts.
Nicola said James believed most people attending the rally likely have never met a trans person before — and James wanted people and Cruz to know that anti-LGBT rhetoric hurts people like him.
Cruz has openly supported the controversial North Carolina state law that says individuals must use the public restroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate. He also slammed Donald Trump for opposing the law.
"Gosh, he thought that men should be able to go into the girls' bathroom if they want to," Cruz said. "Have we gone stark raving nuts? Here is basic common sense. Grown adult men, strangers, should not be alone in bathrooms with little girls."
Over the weekend, Cruz compared transgender people to Trump dressing like a woman.
"Even if Donald Trump dresses up as Hillary Clinton, he shouldn't be using the girls' restroom," he said.
James told BuzzFeed News that the rhetoric of Cruz and some GOP supporters concerning the LGBT community "is very dismissive and almost like we're not real people."
He said he worse his trans-pride T-shirt and flag not to make a statement but to identify himself. "If everybody is going to go wearing American flags, why can't I wear my flag," James said. "I'm not afraid to be visibly trans."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/24g8NOq
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