Madeline Goss is a software engineer from North Carolina, and she has one simple request:

--to be able to use the bathroom.

http://www.upworthy.com/this-womans-must-watch-speech-just-settled-the-whole-bathroom-bill-debate?c=upw1

Believe it or not, her state's legislators called a special session (at a cost of $42,000 to the taxpayers) to pass a bill that says women like Madeline aren't allowed to use public bathrooms.

Seriously.

In telling her story, you can hear her voice fill with a swirl of emotion. There's desperation, frustration, exhaustion, and sadness.

Recounting her assault, Madeline verges on crying, but she pushes onward so as not to go down without a fight.

Hearing about the law, "felt like a one-two punch to the stomach."

In a blog post for the Human Rights Campaign, Madeline described how it felt to learn that North Carolina's elected representatives had deemed her less a person than she truly is.