Obama directive on transgender students will inflame ill-informed 'bathroom warr

[suzifrommd]

Obama directive on transgender students will inflame ill-informed 'bathroom warriors'

Rex Huppke
May 13, 2016

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/huppke/ct-obama-transgender-students-bathrooms-huppke-20160512-story.html

There are transgender kids and adults committing suicide at absurdly high rates, and that has much to do with feelings of fear and exclusion.

Those lives are worth far more to me than anyone's squirmy, unmoored-from-reality washroom fears.

And if you can't understand that, you're simply not trying.

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One of the best opinion pieces I've read on the trans bathroom issue.

[Tessa James]

I trust we will see more inflamed, ill-informed and self righteous nonsense in this struggle.  I am grateful for the better informed and compassionate responses such as this.  Thanks again.

[RobynD]

These so called culture warriors are exactly like the people that shouted obscenities and black students on their first day of integrated schools decades ago.

Fear of change in society is stoked by the selfish for their personal gain. This type of "warriors" are simply the misguided people that respond to that fear.

[cindianna_jones]

This is an excellent article and well worth reading.

[Newfie]

Hmm... the article is wrong about a something.

If you actually read the DCL and the policy suggestions (links provided below) the parents do not necessarily have to be involved. In fact, in the policy suggestions section 3, it states, "Some school policies recommend, with regard to an older student, that school staff consult with the student before reaching out to the student's parents." Also, "The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued guidance... that notes:  "Some transgender and gender nonconforming students are not openly so at home for reasons such as safety concerns or lack of acceptance. School personnel should speak with the student first before discussing a student's gender nonconformity or transgender status with the student's parent or guardian. For the same reasons, school personnel should discuss with the student how the school should refer to the student, e.g., appropriate pronoun use, in written communication to the student's parent or guardian."

I definitely agree with these policy suggestions. To require parental confirmation would act simply to keep transgender students from coming forward to exercise their Title IX rights.

Edit: forgot to provide the links!

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/oshs/emergingpractices.pdf
https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/850996/download

[Deborah]

The ones that will be inflamed live in an alternate reality of perpetual indignation anyway. 


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