Will Illinois school district forgo funding over transgender teen in locker room?http://news.yahoo.com/illinois-school-district-forgo-funding-over-transgender-teen-154302832.html;_ylt=A0LEV7.Z3jhWVHEASZsnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--Christian Science Monitor
Via Yahoo News
By Molly Jackson
27 minutes ago
Nov 3, 2015
The state of Illinois's second largest high school district has one month to decide which it values more: a transgender student's wish to be treated as a 'normal person,' or other students' and adults' concerns over privacy.
The student at the center of the case, who was born male but has identified as female for many years, is receiving hormone therapy, The New York Times reports, and her suburban Illinois high school has honored her wish to go by a female name and pronouns, in keeping with district policy. She also uses women's restrooms.********************************************
The issues are becoming clearer in this case. The district already recognizes her gender and permits the girl to use the girl's restroom. The transgender girl does not want to use privacy curtains in the locker room. This is a little more questionable in the light of privacy for all students. The difference is not about gender, but about anatomy. While the girl is on hormones, her anatomy doesn't line up with other girls' anatomies. And she says she would voluntarily use privacy curtains, but doesn't like being told she has to. To me it seems they should be able to come to an agreement. i.e. Drop the case and agree to voluntarily use privacy curtains - or mandate everybody use privacy curtains.
However, reading the other stories on this U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights says the District is denying her her civil rights and the District must comply or lose $5 million in Federal Funding. I think we may see some backlash with this one. Parents of cisgender girls may well decide to vote for a Republican who would reverse this finding, because they don't want their teens exposed to a transgirl with boy bits. JMHO
