All over the country, bills are being filed that treat transgender people like pawns in a chess game.

--Kasey Sufredini

Kasey Sufredini of Freedom for All Americans has penned an opinion piece for CNN: Let transgender people achieve their American dream

Revealing that I am transgender was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. To finally and fully be myself, I had to share something intensely private with my entire world. I had to ask everyone who has known me to transition with me -- to learn a new name and new pronouns.

I've been fortunate to have support from my family and friends on this shared journey. But like so many other transgender people, I have been physically assaulted by strangers for being transgender. In my daily life, I've encountered humiliating and invasive questioning and treatment. Yet I'm lucky it has not been even worse -- I know other transgender people who have been denied jobs or refused services because of who they are.

Current nondiscrimination proposals embody our nation's core identity -- the land of opportunity and equal treatment. But opponents of transgender equality intentionally use dishonest tactics to stoke fear in the hearts of reasonable Americans by reducing critical protections to questions about restroom use, dehumanizing transgender people while peddling fiction about how protecting people like us will embolden criminals to engage in illegal behavior -- or worse, that we are criminals.

Overcoming deeply ingrained and longstanding stereotypes about transgender people won't happen overnight. And we may lose more before we win. But Americans believe in fairness -- and there are hundreds of thousands of transgender Americans like myself out there. We're committed to this fight so no one has to grow up afraid to go to school or worried about job security. We envision a country in which all Americans, no matter who they are, can achieve their version of the American dream.

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let us pee
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let us pee