Letter to the Editor: Feds have it all wrong; it’s all about equipment
May 25, 2016 | Opinion |
Recently President Obama sent out a letter through the U.S. Department of Education to schools, giving guidance to help schools ensure the civil rights of transgender students. The gist of the letter states that any student has the right to use the bathroom and dressing room of the sex the student identifies with, regardless to what sex the child was born. No age was identified as an age that the sex change choice could be made (age discrimination). So, one has to assume it covers all ages, including kindergarten through high school. The school cannot request medical or parental documentation of the change. A threat of loss of federal funds was threatened to any school that didn’t comply with the directive. This edict was invoked for less than 1% of students.
Here is the place to denote the terms used:
Sexual identity or orientation is about who you are attracted to.
Gender identity is about how you identify as male or female.
Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. These definitions come from the American Psychological Association and are accepted by most groups.
Many larger schools have had to make accommodations to students already. Some schools have offered a private bathroom to the transgender student to use. But according to the Feds, that is not acceptable. The transgender student has to be offered the use of the bathroom or locker room that is used by all other students of his or her identified choice. And for an example of irrational thought of the edict stated in the guidance, if a girl identified as a girl doesn’t like using the bi-sexual bathroom, she can be offered the private bathroom to use. Modesty, decency and privacy are waived for the majority to cater to the exception. Teen-age years are confusing enough to teen-age students without additional confusion delivered by the Feds.
Part of the letter directed schools to let the student use any name they wanted to identify with their new gender identity. The school is obligated to use it for all school records current and permanent. School teachers and other personnel must also use the chosen gender specific title, male or female, in all class room activities. This alone probably breaks several laws. Where else in society can you change your name without a legal change in court (let alone what this will do to social security records and other official documents)?
Both gender identity and name change can be done without parent permission or notification. The gay and lesbian community is trying to make the schools a haven of safety and homes as the dangerous places to grow up.
Most adults that have reassigned their gender have had hormone therapy to stimulate the chosen sex features. Men develop breasts, women grow facial hair, for example, though there are other side effects of the therapy. Children, on the other hand, have no such therapy; most doctors would not offer that to a child before they had reached puberty or the legal age of consent. Only in a rare medical condition would a doctor use hormone therapy on a child to stimulate transgender changes. Surgical changes come later in the process. So children, adolescents and teenagers still have the physical male or female equipment they were born with.
Little thought has been given by the Feds to what happens in bathrooms. Bathrooms are for a body function that most people prefer to take care of in private. It isn’t a place to meet people, create relationships, look for dates or socialize (unless you are waiting in a long line to use the facility). It isn’t an educational or artistic experience. It isn’t a place to find ourselves. And only by relief of the current need does it create well being. Boys’ bathrooms are equipped with urinals and a few stalls. Girls have more stalls. Both have mirrors and sinks, and for all purposes, are equal. Bathrooms have equipment to suit the sex of the user. This basic function of the facility does not change with the expressed change of gender identity of the student. Boys identifying as girls still need to use a urinal and girls identifying as boys still need to use a stall.
Many school districts and whole states are in legal battles to set aside this ruling. It is time for the silent majority to stand up and take back our schools. We need to contact our local and state legislators and made our voice heard.
In no way should bullying be encouraged or allowed for any person regardless of their life choices. We need to show love and respect to all. The majority of the children who don’t have a gender identification issue should have their rights protected, too.
Shelly Sims, Gallatin
Editor’s note: Mrs. Sims, a mother and grandmother, is a retired registered nurse previously serving in public health departments in both Daviess and Caldwell counties. She has also previously served the Daviess County Health Department as a board member.
