The news recently has been disturbing and unsettling, to say the least. There’s another murder, another person being snatched off the streets, another something whenever you turn on your TV, scroll on social media or talk to someone. So imagine my horror when I opened my phone late Wednesday night to discover horrific news right in front of my eyes from Kansas lawmakers.

On Wednesday, after a near six-hour debate, Republican supermajorities in the Kansas Legislature passed a bill barring people from using restrooms in government buildings that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth.

The legislation will affect all buildings owned by the state of Kansas, local governments, and school districts, as well as public colleges and universities — including Wichita State University.

Government entities will be required to clearly mark restrooms as male or female, or risk facing fines up to $125,000. The legislation also will require the Department of Revenue to revoke driver’s licenses and birth certificates that have been updated to reflect trans Kansans’ identities and reissue them with the gender marker matching their sex assigned at birth.

Rep. Susan Humphries, a Wichita Republican, carried the bill on the House floor and portrayed it as an effort to protect the safety and privacy of women.

I say that’s an absolute load of garbage.

This bill wasn’t presented nor passed in the effort to protect women — it’s merely a facade to try to hide blatant transphobia. This bill wasn’t passed with women’s safety in mind; it was passed with the mentality of keeping trans people out of restrooms. In my mind, if you are going to be terrible, at least be honest about it.

First, barring trans people from restrooms is not going to deter sexual assault or harassment in restrooms. I promise you, if someone intends to assault another person, clearly labeled restrooms won’t stop them.

Rapists will still rape. Sexual assaulters will still commit assault.

This bill is essentially stopping nothing and wasting taxpayer’s money and Kansas’ time.

Second, trans people aren’t more likely to assault women than cisgender people. In fact, they are more likely to fall victim to violent crimes, according to a study from the UCLA School of Law.

Trans people are just trying to exist, and not only are they facing more crimes than cis people, they are being accused of crimes more than cis people. It makes me ill to think about the sheer hypocrisy of it all.

The bill will create monsters. If someone believes someone entered the “wrong” restroom, the person accused could face up to a $1,000 fine. Some people will actively search for anyone they deem improper. I’m scared of how far people will go to catch a trans person in the bathroom they deem incorrect; I’m scared of what will happen if no one stops them.

Not only was the horrid bill passed in the first place, but it was passed without public comment.

The bill was fast-tracked through a maneuver known as “gut and go,” meaning if the House approved the bill, it didn’t have to receive a hearing in the Senate. They took an already existing bill and cut-and-pasted other content — the bathroom bill — into it to push it forward quicker.

When Democrats argued the bill should be available for public comment, Rep. Charlotte Esea, an Olathe Republican, pushed back saying, “They [women] should not have to come here in mass numbers to tell you they have been traumatized in order for us to do the right thing.”

You have got to be kidding me.

This is such an overt way of deflecting from valid criticism. Her statement makes me believe that House Republicans knew the bill wouldn’t be as popular if the public weighed in. This alone proves them to be cowards, afraid that their perfect trans-free world could come crumbling down because people are not stupid and would see this as the hateful bill it is.

And not only does this bill affect trans people, it will affect cisgender people too. It will affect mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas. The bill states that any child over the age of eight would not be allowed to enter a restroom of the opposite gender with their parents or guardians. If you want to keep your child close to you for safety factors, too bad.

Fortunately, the bill still has to be sent to Gov. Laura Kelly, who is known for vetoing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, so I still hold out hope for a brighter outcome, but this does not change the sentiments of hate that still hang in the air.

In all honesty, I couldn’t care less about the money this may cost government entities or the fines that could be enacted. I care about all ‌the trans people who live in fear. I care about all the trans people who are being forced to hide who they are because people are too uncomfortable with a thought foreign to them because they don’t know what it’s like to wake up in a body that doesn’t feel like yours. They can’t understand the feeling of cursing God because he put them in the wrong body. They don’t know what it’s like to just want the right to use the bathroom and be told they’re a predator and a villain.

Because, to put it simply, the people who control our government lack the empathy needed to walk in someone else’s shoes, and, frankly, that is frightening.

I am truly heartbroken at Kansas lawmakers’ decisions right now to prioritize their own distasteful agenda over the people they swore to serve. I’ll leave off with a quote from Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and transgender woman after she sat through the harrowing debate about her own rights, because I believe she encapsulates the grief surrounding this decision perfectly:

“I have sat here for five and a half hours and listened to this entire room debate my humanity and my ability to participate in the most basic functions of society,” Boatman said. “And from the bottom of my heart, I hope none of you have to ever sit through something like that.”