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发帖数: 18251 | 1 【 以下文字转载自 Military 讨论区 】
发信人: gjq (不好啦,咕咚掉到井里啦), 信区: Military
标 题: LGBT要求小学允许异装癖男子用女厕所 (转载)
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Thu Feb 28 13:34:41 2013, 美东)
发信人: gjq (不好啦,咕咚掉到井里啦), 信区: SanFrancisco
标 题: LGBT要求小学允许异装癖男子用女厕所
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Thu Feb 28 13:34:29 2013, 美东)
(CNN) -- A Colorado school's ruling over a transgender child has sparked
questions that could affect schools all over the country.
Which bathroom should be used by a child who identifies as a different
gender from his or her body? Where's the line between accommodation and
discrimination? At what point is a child old enough for that to even be an
issue?
The case focuses on Coy Mathis, a 6-year-old born with a boy's body. She
identifies as a girl, and her family is raising her as a girl.
In kindergarten, she used the girl's bathroom with no problem, the family
says. But this year, with Coy in first grade, the principal called to set up
a meeting to discuss bathroom use. In advance of the meeting, the family
asked what the policies are.
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"We were told that there were no written policies and that the options would
be for Coy to use the boys' restroom or the staff bathroom or the nurse's
bathroom for the sick children, which were both on the opposite end of the
building," Coy's father, Jeremy Mathis, said on CNN's "Starting Point" on
Thursday.
That "would stigmatize her, having to be the only one having to go to a
different bathroom, so we weren't OK with that."
The family contacted the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. When
an attorney with that group could not work something out with the school,
the group filed a state civil rights complaint on the family's behalf.
In the meantime, Coy is being home schooled -- partly because her parents
fear bullies may make fun of her.
"The district firmly believes it has acted reasonably and fairly with
respect to this issue," the school district's attorney, W. Kelly Dude, said
in a written statement. "However, the district believes the appropriate and
proper forum for discussing the issues identified in the charge is through
the Division of Civil Rights process. The district is preparing a response
to the charge which it will submit to the division. Therefore, the district
will not comment further on this matter out of respect for the process which
the parents have initiated."
The school calls Coy a girl as the family wishes, Dude said.
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When "his male genitals develop ..."
The school laid out some of its argument in a letter to the Mathis family's
attorney in December:
The district "took into account not only Coy, but other students in the
building, their parents and the future impact a boy with male genitals using
a girls' bathroom would have as Coy grew older," the letter said.
"As Coy grows older and his male genitals develop along with the rest of his
body," it said, "at least some parents and students are likely to become
uncomfortable with his continued use of the girls' restroom."
Kathryn Mathis, Coy's mother, rejects that explanation. "The immediate
problem with that is we're not in middle school yet, we're not in high
school yet," she said Thursday. "And they're punishing a 6-year-old for
something that hasn't happened and may not happen.
"Her body development is none of their business. That is up to her and her
doctors in the future. That's not something that we're at right now. And
right now we need to be protecting a 6-year-old, not a middle-schooler or a
high-schooler."
Coy sat with her parents during the interview with CNN.
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What establishes discrimination?
Colorado law prohibits "discrimination in employment, housing and places of
public accommodations against an individual based upon actual or perceived
sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is defined as heterosexuality,
homosexuality (lesbian or gay), bisexuality, and transgender status.
Transgender status means a gender identity or gender expression that differs
from societal expectations based on gender assigned at birth."
It does not explicitly state that a transgender individual should be allowed
to use a bathroom for people of the gender with which that individual
identifies.
Dude, the Colorado school district's attorney, has said there is no such
requirement for public schools.
But Jeremy Mathis told CNN he believes "the wording of the law is very solid
, and I believe that they're in direct violation of it. They are, in fact,
discriminating."
"Forcing her to use a separate bathroom from all the rest of the kids or
forcing a little girl to go into he boys' room," he said, is "not OK."
Coy's case will be the first to challenge a restroom restriction under the
state's anti-discrimination act, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education
Fund said.
Coy's passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.
"For many transgender people, discrimination is a daily part of life," says
Michael Silverman, an attorney with the fund. "Unfortunately for Coy, it has
started very early."
"The world is going to be looking at the school," he said, adding that the
case can "send a message to the world and teach tolerance, fair play and
equal rights."
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A little-studied group
Transgender children experience a disconnect between their sex, which is
based on their anatomy, and their gender, which includes behaviors, roles
and activities, experts say.
For the general public, transgender identity may be a new concept, though
many might recall Chaz Bono, the child of entertainers Sonny and Cher. Born
female, Bono underwent a transition in his 40s to become a man. He wrote in
his book "Transition" that, even as a child, he had been "aware of a part of
me that did not fit."
He appeared last year as a man on "Dancing with the Stars," in part, he said
, to destigmatize being transgender.
Gender nonconformity is not a disorder, world group says
Comprehensive data and studies about transgender children are rare.
International studies have estimated that anywhere from 1 in 30,000 to 1 in
1,000 people are transgender.
Some children as young as age 3 show early signs of gender dysphoria, or
gender identity disorder, mental health experts who work with transgender
children say.
These children are not intersex -- they do not have a physical disorder or
malformation of their sexual organs. The gender issue exists in the brain,
though experts do not agree on whether it's psychologically or
physiologically based.
Many transgender people report feeling discomfort with their gender as early
as they can remember.
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Gender identity is often confused with sexual orientation. The difference is
that "gender identity is who you are, and sexual orientation is who you
want to have sex with," said Dr. Johanna Olson, a professor of clinical
pediatrics at the University of Southern California, who treats transgender
children.
Children around age 3 are probably not interested in sexual orientation, she
said. But experts say some children who look like they will be transgender
in early childhood turn out to be gay, lesbian or bisexual.
School policies toward transgender students vary across the United States.
In New York, for example, the law says students can't be discriminated
against on the basis of their gender identity.
But in Maine, a court ruled in November that a school district did not
violate a transgender student's rights when she was told she couldn't use
the girls' bathroom.
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Reaction to Coy's story
CNN's online audience has responded to this story with a range of questions
and comments, with many insisting the child is too young to comprehend
gender differences. Mostly, posters said they felt sorrow for Coy as a child
who is struggling.
"Just let the kid use the gender-neutral bathrooms. When he/she is a teen,
if he is still convinced he is a girl, maybe then you can get into it with
the school," said commenter EDM.
"This kid is going to have a hard enough life if he really is transsexual,
why start fighting battles now, when he should just be blissfully ignorant"?
Transgender teacher sues school for alleged discrimination
Commenter AlawJ said the story left a "negative impression of the parents."
"My rash view may be unfair, but I remember being that age and have helped
raise 9 nieces and nephews. One wanted to be a firetruck and ran around
making truck noises. Another one of the boys liked to play dress up with the
girls," AlawJ wrote. "My fiance's little brother always wore dresses as
well. But, at the end of the day, the parents are there to be the adults and
make decisions for them.
"I also am a little weary when you read a story where the parents are filing
lawsuits for their 6 year old child's rights." |
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