Battle of the Bathrooms Involves First Grader
It is hard to know which aspect of this case is most troubling: The fact a first grader has been deemed “transgendered” at such a young age or that a panel has agreed that gender-segregation of bathroom facilities creates a hostile environment.
The Daily Caller Education Editor Eric Owens reports on a recent court ruling:
The Colorado Civil Rights Division has decided in favor of the transgender first-grader who had been prohibited from using the girls’ bathroom at a public elementary school.
The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed the complaint on behalf of the first-grader’s family, announced the ruling on Sunday, reports Denver FOX affiliate KDVR.
The student, Coy Mathis, was born biologically male but wears girls’ clothes all the time. The six-year-old had also been using the girls’ bathroom at Eagleside Elementary in Fountain, Colorado near Colorado Springs.
In December, the school banned Coy from using the girls’ bathroom. The new policy was for Coy to use either the boys’ bathroom, a teacher’s lounge bathroom or the nurse’s bathroom.
At the time, the Mathis family responded by taking Coy out of school
The ruling by the state’s civil rights division, which enforces laws discrimination laws, decreed that Mathis was a victim of illegal discrimination.
Division director Steven Chavez pronounced that a policy directing Coy to “disregard her identity while performing one of the most essential human functions constitutes severe and pervasive treatment, and creates an environment that is objectively and subjectively hostile, intimidating or offensive,” according to The New York Times.
The decision mentioned the latest research on transgender issues, adds KDVR. “Compartmentalizing a child as a boy or a girl solely based on their visible anatomy,” Chavez wrote, “is a simplistic approach to a difficult and complex issue.”
The ruling observed that the child’s birth certificate indicates that Coy was born male. However, more recent medical and legal documentation indicates that the first-grader is female.
It’s not clear which metrics for gender the creators of any of these documents used.
“Schools should not discriminate against their students, and we are thrilled that Coy can return to school and put this behind her,” Kathryn Mathis, Coy’s mother, said in a statement obtained by KDVR. “All we ever wanted was for Coy’s school to treat her the same as other little girls.”
Transgender first-grader wins civil rights suit after girls’ bathroom ban (The Daily Caller)
Comments
Expel.
“Sorry, but your son/daughter/whatever is just too much of a legal nightmare for us to deal with. So, rather than expend scant resources on moronic legal bills and calming down screaming 7 year old girls, we’re expelling your freakazoid kid. Have fun wherever you wind up.”
So, what happens when the parents of girls attending that school sue them for creating a sexually hostile environment by forcing them to “perform one of the most essential human functions” in the presence of a male?
The LGBT issues are always the tail that wags the dog, and the larger society is expected to conform itself to the wishes of LGBT folks.
As this child makes his (her?) way through the public school system, the schools will have to make yet other accommodations. If he wants to be on the girl’s cheerleading team, that will have to be allowed. If he wants to be on the girls swim team, that also will have to be allowed. Who knows how shower room issues will be resolved. But don’t be surprised if the school has to construct separate shower facilities for transgender students.