Colorado school bars transgendered 1st-grader from using girls' restroom

[Shana A]

Colorado school bars transgendered 1st-grader from using girls' restroom
By Ed Payne, CNN
updated 9:11 AM EST, Wed February 27, 2013

http://us.cnn.com/2013/02/27/us/colorado-transgender-girl-school/index.html

(CNN) -- Just like she did during the first half of the school year, first grader Coy Mathis wants to use the girls' restroom at her Colorado elementary school. But school officials won't let her.

The reason? Coy is transgendered, born with male sex organs but a child who identifies herself as female.

She has dressed as a girl for most of last year. And her passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.

In December, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District informed Coy's parents that Coy would be barred from using the girls' restrooms at Eagleside Elementary in Fountain after winter break.

She could instead use the boys' bathroom, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms or the nurse's bathroom, the district said.

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Colorado parents of transgender 1st-grader file complaint over restroom ban
Posted:   02/26/2013 05:25:40 PM MST
Updated:   02/27/2013 12:22:01 AM MST
By Colleen O'Connor
The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/colorado-springs/ci_22674172/transgender-fountain-1st-grader-banned-from-girls-bathroom

The parents of a transgender 6-year-old have filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division because Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain banned the first-grader from using the girls' restroom.

The child, Coy Mathis, was born male but identifies as female. She had attended the school since December 2011 before being pulled out by her parents.

"This is significant for both Colorado and nationally," said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, who is representing the family. "For Colorado, it is the first test of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act as related to access to bathrooms by transgender students.

"On a national level, as we see more and more transgender people coming out at younger and younger ages, people will be watching what happens in Colorado."

[Shang]

Coy Mathis, 6-Year-Old Transgender Girl, Barred From Using Girls' Restroom in Colorado School District

The Colorado-based parents of a 6-year-old transgender girl are taking legal action after their local school district opted to prohibit their daughter from using the girls' room.

The Denver Post reports that Coy Mathis had attended Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, Colo. since December 2011. Parents Kathryn and Jeremy Mathis say they opted to home school their daughter after school officials decided Coy would have to use the boys' restroom, the staff restroom or the one in the school nurse's office.

"They're creating a giant divide and that's a huge loss for the school because they have a really good opportunity for their students," Kathryn told Fox 31 KDVR.com. "They're using it as a way to discriminate instead."

Coy's parents are now filing a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, according to the Post.

______________________________________________


Colorado School Bars Transgendered 1st-Grader From Using Girls' Restroom

(CNN) -- Just like she did during the first half of the school year, first-grader Coy Mathis wants to use the girls' restroom at her Colorado elementary school. But school officials won't let her.

The reason? Coy is transgendered, a child born with male sex organs but who identifies herself as female.

She dressed as a girl for most of last year. And her passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.

In December, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District informed Coy's parents that Coy would be barred from using the girls' restrooms at Eagleside Elementary in Fountain after winter break.

[Joelene9]

  I caught this on the noon news.  Thanks for posting! 

  Joelene

[Vicky]

TLDEF = my contribution money at work!!  They are a TG organization I support financially, not much mind you but I do send them money a couple times a year and like what it gets us. 

[Jamie D]

Transgender Girl's Parents Lobby for Her Right to Use the Bathroom

The parents of a 6-year-old transgender girl who has been banned from using the girls' bathroom at her Fountain, Colorado public school have filed a formal discrimination complaint with the aid of a lawyer—and are using the opportunity to speak out publicly in support of their child.

"The more you talk about something, the more awareness and acceptance there is," Kathryn Mathis, mother of first grader Coy, who was born a boy, told Yahoo! Shine. "We're really just trying to make it known what the school has done and make them accountable."

The family has filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division. It will be investigated, and if either party is unhappy with the outcome, the next step would be a lawsuit.



(Complete article at the link)

[Dana_H]

Fountain is just down the road from me. It is entirely possible that the school may have violated Colorado's non-discrimination laws on this. We have a law on the books now that supposedly guarantees everyone the right to use the bathroom appropriate to his/her gender identity. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[calico]

I just read this article and some of the response's, I'm not really sure what I think about the story, but I remember when I was in grade school we only had 1 bathroom and it was in the class-room,  times sure have changed.

I applaud the family for their support, but I question the diagnosis, I can honestly say at 5,6,or 7 I didnt know I was different I think I thought everyone was the same, so it makes me wannt to question the sanity of the dr whom is telling these parents  of a diagnosis. I think the parents should let the kid be themself and let their personality and who they are unravel and see where it ends up, perhaps they are already  doing this, IDK the story lacks in some respects, if the child was 10 it would seem much more clearer than her being 6 years old.
JMO

[Brooke777]

I read about this first at the below link. The lawyer for the school district horrible points out in a statement that Coy has male genitals and that they will "grow" as "he" grows. I think that lawyer has some issues.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/coy-mathis-transgender-girl-colorado-school-district_n_2773609.html?ir=gay-voices&utm_campaign=022713&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-gay-voices&utm_content=Title&goback=%2Egde_63687_member_218262803

[JulieC.]

We have an interesting story developing here in Denver.  There is a 6 year old transgender girl (Coy Mathis) that has been denied the use of the girls restroom at school.  The parents are suing the school district.

It's on the news and talk shows here in Denver.  This court decision will likely determine the policy of all the schools in Colorado and which bathroom all transgender individuals use.  We'll see if Colorado's transgender anti-discrimination laws have any teeth.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/colorado-transgender-girl-banned-grade-school-bathroom/story?id=18607443

[peky]

Well, you got to understand that there is Colorado..and then there is "Colorado Spring." Colorado Springs is a  place were neanderthals and the Inquisition are still alive and well.

[calico]

Well, you got to understand that there is Colorado..and then there is "Colorado Spring." Colorado Springs is a  place were neanderthals and the Inquisition are still alive and well.

That sounds like you have had some personal experience there..

[Bardoux]

How the incendiary rhetoric against transgender youth is escalating
Zack Ford, October 24th

Conservatives are continuing to ramp up their rhetoric against transgender youth, using the Pacific Justice Institute's (PJI) fabricated story about Colorado teen Jane Doe to justify overturning California's new law protecting transgender students.

Disgraced Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt... "Now the public school children are being told by a demonic spirit, "You must open up your daughter's privacy to our perversion." And this demonic spirit inside of this boy is now violating, and for all intents and purposes, he's raping — at least visually — these teenage girls.

David Kupelian, managing editor of... WorldNetDaily, offered his own concern this week about Coy Mathis, the six-year-old Colorado trans student who also successfully fought for the right to use the bathroom she identifies with at school... "This is a transgender six-year-old. Look, this is child abuse: to go and tell this six-year-old child who was born a boy is actually a girl, but they sued and they won. This is sort of the new emerging civil rights movement, as ghoulish as it seems — it's just in time for Halloween I guess. But this is sweeping the nation right now".

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/10/24/2828961/incendiary-rhetoric-transgender-youth-escalating/

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My goodness...

[LordKAT]

I applaud the family for their support, but I question the diagnosis, I can honestly say at 5,6,or 7 I didnt know I was different I think I thought everyone was the same, so it makes me wannt to question the sanity of the dr whom is telling these parents  of a diagnosis. I think the parents should let the kid be themself and let their personality and who they are unravel and see where it ends up, perhaps they are already  doing this,

I definitely knew by time I was 3, I'm sure others can tell you the same of knowing by 3 or 4 years old.  I do mean knowing, not wondering or playing.

[calico]

I definitely knew by time I was 3, I'm sure others can tell you the same of knowing by 3 or 4 years old.  I do mean knowing, not wondering or playing.

I barely have memories from that young at least that I recall anyway, from just my own exprience I didn't eally comprehend gender at least a difference till perhaps 9 or 10 , but like I said this is just personal experience and opinion.  I will say however what I do remember was playing with other girls and doing girl like stuff which got me picked on in school, at the time I didn't know why nor did I voice it, I just didn't know back then.

Perhaps the parents notice something and took steps to allow their child to grow and learn without restrictions or forced idealations. Recent turn of events and conversation with my mother the stated she knew I was a girl from the very first word and steps I made.  

Idk like I stated we didn't have boys in girls rooms in grade school k-5th we just had 1 bathroom and no gender lableing, our class's were like max of 30 kids...

Times have changed

[Northern Jane]

I didn't comprehend gender either at that age but I knew I was a girl right from the start and, according to my parents, I was always that way from infancy. Go figger! If I had been born in 2009 instead of 1949, that could well be MY parents fighting with the school. As it was I was "granted special concessions" by high school because it was so obvious I wasn't the gender I was supposed to be.

[Jamie D]

I barely have memories from that young at least that I recall anyway, from just my own exprience I didn't eally comprehend gender at least a difference till perhaps 9 or 10 , but like I said this is just personal experience and opinion.  I will say however what I do remember was playing with other girls and doing girl like stuff which got me picked on in school, at the time I didn't know why nor did I voice it, I just didn't know back then.

Perhaps the parents notice something and took steps to allow their child to grow and learn without restrictions or forced idealations. Recent turn of events and conversation with my mother the stated she knew I was a girl from the very first word and steps I made.  

Idk like I stated we didn't have boys in girls rooms in grade school k-5th we just had 1 bathroom and no gender labeling, our class's were like max of 30 kids...

Times have changed

I remember at my elementary school, the kindergarten and first grade wing was separated from the rest of the school.  Each classroom had its own bathroom (unisex) and the four classrooms had their own little playground.