Re: “Maine Voices: Our politically correct culture reaches too far to protect transgender rights” (May 25):

I was saddened and, quite frankly, appalled by this column.

I was born and raised in Maine, but now live in New York City. At my recent graduation from New York University, a trans student delivered a powerful speech about his transition. My friends and I were impressed by the progressive choice NYU made to have this student speaker.

My generation is tired of fear about what people do not know. We want a society that honors and respects all lesbian, bisexual, gay and trans people.

People don’t choose to be trans in order to get into a locker room used by the opposite sex. Statistics show how many times a person who is trans has attacked someone in a bathroom – and it’s zero.

As a group, people who are trans have an attempted-suicide rate of 41 percent – far higher than the national average – and are often victims of violence. So I do not follow the logic of the column whatsoever.

I was disappointed to come home on break and read this column. Maine, you can do better than this.

Rachel Griffin

Cape Elizabeth