May 17, 2016

If you think discrimination against transgender people has nothing to do with you, think again. A very brave young woman named Aimee Toms was washing her hands in a WalMart ladies' room when another customer flipped her off and called her 'disgusting.' Why? Because she appeared to be transgendered.

Aimee had cut her hair short because she donated her long hair -- for the third time -- to a wig program for cancer patients.

Note: her video contains swear words. Mine would, too.

This video had been viewed over 12,000 times by Sunday night. Aimee's local paper in Danbury Connecticut covered her courageous stand:

Toms believes the incident happened because of the national controversy sparked by a law that was passed in North Carolina attempting to force transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender they were identified as at birth. Since then, religious conservatives have launched a boycott of Walmart competitor Target, which has said transgender people are welcome to use its bathrooms freely. Nationally, Walmart has been silent on the issue.

“After experiencing the discrimination they face firsthand, I cannot fathom the discrimination transgender people must face in a lifetime,” she said. “Can you imagine going out every day and having people tell you you should not be who you are or that people will not accept you as who you are?”

“I’ve had people call me all sorts of names for having short hair. I’ve had people call me a boy, I’ve had people call me a dyke, I’ve had people call me gay.” Toms said. “I’m grateful that that woman only called me disgusting and didn’t physically attack me … I was a victim of transphobia today as a cisgender female because my hair is short.”

“People hate what they don’t understand and they hate what they don’t know,” Toms said. “And it creates a cycle of disgusting bigotry that reflects back on our nation and makes us look ridiculous.”

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