On the Q Center's Web site, this week is listed as Transgender Awareness Week and there are various events planned in its honor all over campus. A lot of people probably wonder why the campus needs this, and I doubt many even know a transgender, intersex or genderqueer individual.

Just because a part of the population isn't visible doesn't mean they don't exist or their problems aren't real and deserving of our attention. According to the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS), the Q Center found only eight gender-neutral bathrooms on campus, and of those, only six were accessible. The senate also stated that according to a 2001 survey done in San Francisco, 41 percent of transgender respondents reported experiencing harassment or physical violence in the typical gendered bathrooms.

Transgender people often deal with situations like these just because of who they are, thanks to how our society has trained people to treat them. I think a perfect example of how society is trained to treat transgender people can be seen in the words of conservative political talking head and radio host Michael Savage.

March 20, Savage used his airtime to address the case of a transgender woman who had been murdered in San Francisco.

"It appeared the victim had been in the process of becoming a woman ... yeah, process of becoming a woman — psychopath. [She] should have been in a backward in a straitjacket for years, howling on major medication," Savage said.

He continued to insult all transgender people by remarking, and "What's this sympathy, constant sympathy for sexually confused people? Why should we have constant sympathy for people who are freaks in every society?"

But that wasn't enough, so he added, "The freak ought to be glad that they're allowed to walk around without begging for something. You know, I'm sick and tired of the whole country begging, bending over backward for the junkie, the freak, the pervert, the illegal immigrant. All of them are better than everybody else. Sick. Everything is upside down."

Savage isn't the only person spouting off; he just has a particularly disgusting way of doing it. This is what transgender people have to face on a daily basis from people and from the media. Not to mention that transgender people in just about every study released are shown to be more likely to be murdered than an average member of the population. On top of that, they are more likely to be murdered in a brutal manner. This really emphasizes the hatred that goes into these murders.

After all this harassment and violence, they still aren't safe after being killed. Jerks in the media like Savage make fun of them even after they've been killed. Most of us have the privilege of knowing that if we were murdered, we wouldn't be made fun of after our death.

I think our campus can do something as simple as creating more accessible, lockable, single-user, gender-neutral bathrooms across campus. Not only is this good for transgender, intersex and genderqueer individuals, it benefits others as well, including people with special needs and parents with children. I know that I personally would appreciate them since I don't enjoy going to the bathroom with a bunch of other people in the room. Sometimes a little privacy is nice for everybody.

With how the media treats transgender people and the extra stress and violence they have to face on a near-daily basis, the rest of us should be banding to together and finding out where we can help. Taking action on our own campus is a good start.

Reach columnist Hunter Kincaid at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.