Recently, there has been more and more discrimination and discourse in the country against transgender people being able to transition. It is now viewed as a crime in certain states, such as Texas, to receive the needed gender-affirming care as a minor, like hormones and surgeries needed for a complete and successful transition. Parents can now be charged with child endangerment for letting their child or teen receive gender-affirming care, which is vital for some. It has also become legal to deny care to a trans person at places such as hospitals and doctors' offices for gender-affirming care, and even just normal medical assistance in general. This is taking away a lot of the fair and safe options that we all as people used to have access to. Government officials can’t have complete control over what one wants to do with their own body and life, and since the first amendment of the constitution is supposed to protect us from those government limits, I believe that there should be a bill passed that makes it illegal and punishable to deny any transgender person of any age gender-affirming care, and that it should be considered a transphobic hate crime. This bill needs to be passed by the Senate, and applicable and equal for all 50 states to ensure that no one is being stopped from receiving the vital care that they rightfully deserve. No state should be able to decide for themselves if they want to let someone transition, and it should be allowed at any age as long as the individual has received the required therapy needed for a healthy and safe transition. This bill would allow trans people to live safer and more enjoyable lives. It would help the world realize that trans people are just real people like everyone else is, and because they can require a different level of care doesn’t mean that anyone should be able to dictate or judge them based on that. As a transgender male myself, this is very important to me and affects me directly. I would love to see a change reguarding my community because we are all human beings and we deserve to be treated as such. The way some people view transgender people is downright outrageous and bigoted. Everyone deserves to have a chance to live the life they aspire to live, so why do we have to jump through all these hoops just to be ourselves? I am an advocate for trans rights and I will make it my duty to see a change in the world reguarding them. I think that my admiration for the rights of my people would make me a great candidate for this scholarship. Thank you for this oppurtunity and I hope to hear back from you soon.