Quote from: conformer on May 02, 2012, 05:43:28 PM
Update:
(he insists that I can't compete with the other males because it is a liability since I am legally female.)

I think that's bull ->-bleeped-<- since you are on male hormones.

Quote from: Andy8715 on May 02, 2012, 05:44:38 PM
I think that's bull ->-bleeped-<- since you are on male hormones.

My point exactly man

wow i would have flipped a ->-bleeped-<-, that is crazy disrespect. for some reason all the staf at my school bother the other trans kid about stuff and not me it might be because i pass better. also the whole recording this stuff subject, doesn't your school have cameras mine has them everywhere.

A liability? For serious? You're on testosterone, which is bringing you on par with your cis male classmates. The guy needs a reality check.

Quote from: Zerro on May 02, 2012, 10:38:37 PM
A liability? For serious? You're on testosterone, which is bringing you on par with your cis male classmates. The guy needs a reality check.

He probably has no set of guidelines to go off of and isn't looking to "wing" it in this situation.  If it was written in a district rule book somewhere that the OP could have access or participate in these things, his principal would most likely go along with what the book said.  But since the "book" doesn't even cover this, he's put in a very odd predicament.  This situation is actually a lot for anyone to absorb, there's so many big issues and the OP's principal is pretty much the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to educators.  Complaining to the janitor of a company about how bad they are is just as pointless as complaining to the principal about district and state educational policies, or a lack of.

There was an article back in 2011 regarding the NCAA issuing new guidelines for trans athletes at the collegiate level.  It's safe to say, if it's just reaching the college level, it probably hasn't been incorporated at very many high schools yet.


"Under the new policy, trans women may play on women's teams as long as they have been taking hormone blockers for one year, and trans men may play on men's teams if they are on testosterone therapy. Trans men who have started hormones may not, however, play on women's teams."

http://campusprogress.org/articles/ncaa_issues_new_guidelines_for_transgender_student_athletes/

Today the whole lunch lady thing was addressed.

The principal pulled myself, the lunch lady, and the lunch room adviser aside and told her pretty much "You need to work in a professional manner at all times and keep any personal commentary to yourself. Whatever Jacob chooses to do, or be called is his personal choice and we are not to judge him. In fact all that's even necessary is 'Thank you, have a good day, etc.', not ma'am or sir is even necessary."

After she said that, the lunch lady got all offended and the principal gave her her turn to talk. So she said to me basically "Have I ever disrespected you in these years that you've been here? (I said yes, but I waited my turn for anything more) I have only known you as female since you've been to this school." Then she gave her story of what happened which was:
"I said thank you ma'am and  she told me 'I am a man, not a woman' (and some other stuff I don't remember, but it wasn't true) then I replied 'Well I've only known you as a girl since you've been here' (and some other stuff again)."
Finally she went on to say "After that somebody ran over to her and told her what I said to someone else. I am an adult and was talking to another adult and that is my business . . . blah blah blah." Basically she was implying that she's grown and no one should have been listening to her side comments.

I just gave my account of what happened after that and of course she objected and gave her made up story of how she oh-so-politely replied to my simple suggestion of "sir".  After that I was allowed to leave and the principal stayed in the room with the lunch lady and adviser and I'm not sure what happened after that.

tldr;

The principal straight up put her in her place. The lunch lady put some words in my mouth that I said "I am a man, not a woman blah blah blah". Then she implied that because she is an adult my friend should not have been listening to her disrespectful comments about myself. (I guess that because she's an adult she thinks it's okay to disrespect people.)

Great update:

Today my mother and I had a little conference at Equality Michigan with their director of victim services, the other worker with victim advocacy, and the director of programs from Affirmations (another LGBT group/resource center in Michigan). I just want to start by saying that they were soooo friendly, enthusiastic and ready to help. We all sat down at a conference table and they already pretty much had a plan laid out as to how we will approach the entire school situation.

Before we got all into what we will do however, we discussed everything that was going on with the school so everyone was on the same page. Basically they came to the conclusion that they believe the school is in violation to city ordinances because they cover gender identity, which is defined in city ordinances as gender expression regardless of the gender on one's birth certificate. (Also, we learned that the director of victim services is a lawyer, so she knows her stuff hah.)

Anyways, after all of that they let us know what the plan is going to be.
1.) They're going to team up with an LGBT attorney from the ACLU and write a letter to the principal including the city ordinances (I'm not exactly sure what else is going to be included). They (and me) hope to have this done by Monday. They also are going to try to set up some type of sensitivity training workshops for the staff at my school so they can have a better understanding of how to deal with LGBT students; gender identity/expression to be emphasized. Also they plan to contact the Emergency Financial Manager/ some other type of supervisor over the public school system and have a conference with them, my mother, myself, principal, security, and anyone else I feel should go.

2.) If my school does not react positively to all I outlined above, or if they choose to take legal action, the next step would be just that. The director was telling us that we could take it as far as federal court (I think) if it got to that point and the constitution could get involved because of something that would protect me in the constitution. . sorry there were so many terms going on and I could only absorb so much lol. Basically, we can take it as far as they want to legally and we would still have a good fight to put up.

They were really just emphasizing to my mother and I about huge community that is there to help us out, which is so freakin' cool. We were also informed of another ftm student at a school in my district who is going through a similar problem, but in his case he is having issues with the students not staff. So we are going to probably get in contact with them. Soooo yeah, a lot was discussed, I can't recall it all right now, but it was all good. I'm a ton more hopeful with the whole situation now that I know I have so much support behind me.

I will continue to keep this thread updated as much as possible. I'm not going down without a fight this time guys, so you don't either if you can help it! There are people out there to help.

P.S
I didn't include names because I don't know if they'd approve, but if you want to know what organizations are helping me:
http://www.equalitymi.org/
http://www.goaffirmations.org/site/PageServer

That is so cool conformer congrats!

Quote from: Malachite on May 10, 2012, 06:09:13 PM
That is so cool conformer congrats!

Thanks man! I forgot to mention that they are going to help me with the name change process too

Yes, that's totes awesome dude! I hope it doesn't have to come down to legal action, but I really hope that things continue to get better for you. School should a place where you can learn in peace, not be harassed by staff or students over your gender. :/

This is absolutely great news conformer!!! I'm so glad you've found people who can help you, and who will clear up this whole mess!

Please do keep us updated; it's great to see something actually being done to remedy this!