Tag Archives: school

November 2016 Trans Talk on 90.1 KKFI

Hello everyone! We have two guests for our show this weekend – first, we will be speaking with Julie, the mother of a transgender young man, who is suing the Odessa Missouri school district over discrimination against her son. Next, we will be talking with Dr. Peter Raphael, a surgeon with the American Institute of Plastic Surgery who serves the transgender male and female community, about his practice and developments in transgender surgery.

As usual, we will share with you the transgender news and the community calendar update. We do hope you will be able to join us this Saturday, November 26 at 1:00 pm on 90.1 FM KKFI, Kansas City Community Radio! You can also stream the program live on kkfi.org.

Some Positive UK Transgender Kids News (February, 2016)

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We have three items from the United Kingdom to highlight in this little news roundup. The first is from Brighton College, where the school is allowing all kids the right to wear the male or female school uniform, depending upon their gender identity. Note that although the school has “college” in its name, this is actually a pre-university private school. From the Daily Mirror:

Mr Cairns told students last week that uniform codes dating back to the school’s inception in 1845 would be replaced by a ‘trouser uniform’ and a ‘skirt uniform’ for all pupils up to the age of 16.

The trouser uniform will see pupils wear a full tweed blazer, tie and trousers and the skirt uniform requires students to wear a skirt, bolero jacket and open-neck reverse blouse.

Parents will be required to write to the school before pupils can switch from one uniform to another.

Girls are already walking around the campus in trousers and the school said more than one boy has expressed the desire to wear a skirt.

Pupil Fred Dimbleby, 17, son of BBC broadcaster David Dimbleby, 77, said: “Personally, I’m completely in favour of it.

“I think it’s brilliant that we as an institution are leading this new approach and that we are leading this respect towards everyone no matter what they define themselves as.

“What’s really surprised me is the way that people have taken it within the school.

“I think that it’ll be foreign for people to see someone who defines themselves as a male wearing a skirt, and I think that will be something big, but I don’t think it’ll cause any outrage or backlash because that person will be massively supported by the pupil body.”

In another bit of news from the UK, a transgender girl has inspired the New Chapel Unitarian and Free Christian Church in Greater Manchester to start offering transgender baptisms. In short, to allow transgender persons to be baptized in their new name and gender expression.

Worship leader Jean Clements came up with the idea after meeting a couple who had a transgender child.

The church then backed the change to help others in the same situation.

Mrs Clements told the BBC : “I felt saddened by the fact that this family were being shunned by many mainstream churches.

“However, when the family came to New Chapel, the congregation welcomed them with open arms.”

Finally, a 5-year-old Nottinghamshire child has become one of the youngest cases of gender transition in Britain. Little Danni McFayden has re-entered her primary school as a girl after a social gender transition fully supported by both parents and teachers.

Children can take drugs to postpone puberty as well as hormone treatment, before NHS gender realignment surgery at 18.

The Gender Identity Research and Education Society says referrals for treatment of young people are growing by 50%.

Colin Pettigrew, from Nottingham County Council, said it was determined to support the youngster’s wishes.

He said: “Transgender is a new area for many school and is a characteristic protected by law.”

Illinois District Violated Transgender Student’s Rights, U.S. Says

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The New York Times has printed a very detailed article on a recent major victory for transgender youth. Township High School District 211 in Palatine, Illinois, had refused to allow a transgender girl equal access to school locker and toilet facilities, and a complaint was made by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. In a letter sent Monday, the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education told the district that requiring a transgender student to use private changing and showering facilities was a violation of that student’s rights under Title IX, a federal law that bans sex discrimination. The district has 30 days to reach a solution or face penalties, including potential administrative law proceedings or a Justice Department court action. The district could lose some or all of its Title IX funding.

From the article:

“All students deserve the opportunity to participate equally in school programs and activities — this is a basic civil right,” Catherine Lhamon, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Township High School District 211 is not following the law because the district continues to deny a female student the right to use the girls’ locker room.”

…

Officials in the Palatine district, which serves more than 12,000 students, have framed their position as a middle ground. The transgender student in question plays on a girls’ sports team, is called “she” by school staff and is referred to by a female name. But the district, citing privacy concerns, had required her to change clothes and shower separately.

The district said she was allowed to change inside the girls’ locker room, but only behind a curtain. The student, who has not been publicly identified, has said she would probably use that curtain to change. But she and the federal government have insisted that she be allowed to make that decision voluntarily, and not because of requirements by the district.

As a rebuttal to ignorant parents who claimed that the student was a “boy” who was “gaming the system to see girls naked,” the Times reported that the student “…has identified as a girl from a young age, has changed her name, received a passport as a female and is undergoing hormone therapy…”

Source: Illinois District Violated Transgender Student’s Rights, U.S. Says

Transgender Student Visibility has Missouri and Kansas colleges Making Accommodations

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Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover kick-started a national conversation about what defines gender and what that means. Yet college campuses have had conversations about the issue for years. At public colleges in the Kansas City area, unisex bathrooms and gender-neutral dorms have opened up. Wording in some anti-discrimination policies has been tweaked to protect transgender students.

This is a nice article about the great strides local colleges have made towards accommodating transgender students, especially Kansas City’s own UMKC (disclosure: I am an adjunct professor at said school). The article features Luke Harness, Sandra Meade’s and my co-host on “Trans Talk” on 90.1 KKFI, and Luke as usual has interesting things to say about his efforts to improve the lives of our people.

Source: Transgender student visibility has Missouri and Kansas colleges making accommodations | The Kansas City Star The Kansas City Star

Bonkers Bathroom Bounty Bill. Blech.

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A little bit of alliteration never hurt anyone, dear readers. As opposed to conservative hate, which does hurt people. It hurts in emotional and mental damage done, it hurts by creating unsafe places for minorities, and it hurts by working to set up a theocracy out of what was once a representative democracy.

Kentucky senator C.B. Embry has shown himself to be a Very Special little hobgoblin, who keeps popping up in the news with his capers. In 2013 he opposed an anti-bullying bill which would have protected students based on the gender identity and expression, as well as sexual orientation. But that was just the beginning.

You see, the honorable Mr. Embry has introduced a bill into the Kentucky legislature which would force schools to keep transgender students out of “improper” bathrooms and locker rooms. The method for his madness is to give any student allegedly traumatized by seeing a transgender person in those places $2,500 for their pain and suffering. It does not specify if a transgender person may see themselves in a mirror, they should also be awarded $2,500. Probably because Mr. Embry likely believes, like vampires, we don’t have a reflection.

Dear readers, I can actually see an upside to this policy. For example, one could get together 20 female students to “see” a transgender girl student in their locker room, then pool their $50,000 of winnings and donate them to a good cause transgender cause. And when they get tired of that, they could start building up some college funds, or even donate the legal largess to Mr. Embry’s political opponent in the next election.

Lawmaker Wants To Pay Students $2,500 If They See A Transgender Person In The ‘Wrong’ Bathroom | ThinkProgress.

FOX News Gretchen Carlson Trolls for Gender Conflict; Misses Yet Again

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Dear readers, at times I ask myself questions which I confess I cannot answer. “Where did the singularity of the Big Bang arise from? Which is the one true religion? Why do I bother to pay attention to FOX News?” That being said, one cannot ignore FOX News. It sits like a blot on the landscape, the metaphorical “turd in the punchbowl of news.” And thus, here I am reporting upon it yet again.

Today’s FOX News complaint regards Gretchen Carlson lashing out and making allegations that teachers at the public schools of Lincoln, Nebraska, have become so crazed with the thought of kowtowing to the gender mafia that they are expected to no longer refer to students as boys and girls, but “purple penguins” and other strange monikers. Something which urban legend debunking site “Snopes” has soundly refuted. Moreover, the Lincoln School District themselves have come out to debunk the lies as well.

“Our teachers are allowed to use boys and girls in the classroom, and they do so in schools every day across the community,” he said in the message to parents. “We are telling our staff to be sensitive to the needs of all students, and those with gender identity issues are particularly vulnerable to bullying and suicide.”

During his press conference, Joel called it “regrettable” and “truly unfortunate” that the school district has had to waste so much time and energy answering questions and fielding calls about the training on gender inclusiveness used during summer teacher training at Irving Middle School, and possibly other LPS schools.

What else can I say? FOX News increasingly appears to be engaging in the Big Lie propaganda technique to browbeat the American public into fearing and hating us for even existing.

Gretchen Carlson Lashes Out At School Recommendations For Transgender Students | Blog | Media Matters for America.

South Park’s “Cissy” Episode was Actually Pretty Good on Trans Issues

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I don’t often just share a link on Transas City without some commentary, but this writer at Slate essentially says what I would have about a recent South Park episode which focused on transgender issues. I saw the episode online and I agree with the summary from slate below almost 100%. I mean, I felt a little more sensitive to the aspect of making fun of transgender persons via Cartman as a vehicle (which is why is use the descriptor “pretty good” in lieu of “great” as per the original article), but really, after thinking about it for a while, it was a positive portrayal overall, and after the debacle of the plot with Mr. Garrison’s sex change (the reason I stopped watching the program), a pleasant surprise.

South Park’s “Cissy” episode was great on trans issues..

Transgender Teacher who Fought the School Boards for Her Rights Dies

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If you’ve never heard of Lily McBeth before, let me tell you a little about her. Born William McBeth, she transitioned in 2005 at the age of 71, and attempted post-transition to continue her career as a substitute teacher in New Jersey. Her vocal and public fight for her employment rights made the news nationwide in 2006, and helped lay the foundations of transgender employment rights in her state. Even though she had to resign 3 years later due to a suspicious lack of teaching assignments, she nonetheless kept her spirits up and continued public advocacy work in other areas.

Transgender teacher who fought school boards dies | The Kansas City Star.

Brazil: Schoolboys Wear Skirts to Support Transgender Student

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A touching story of support for a transgender student, which has a happy ending. The article is short so I’ll report most of it here:

17-year-old Maria Muniz, who recently came out as trans at São Cristóvão do Colégio Pedro II, was disciplined by teachers and handed a fine after she wore a skirt to school, instead of the regulation boys’ trousers.

The school claimed that their Code of Ethics did not permit “male” students to wear female uniforms – but was forced to backtrack on the decision when the girl’s classmates decided to protest by all wearing skirts to school too.

Maria Muniz said: “I always turned up in trousers but I felt repressed and for me wearing a skirt was about expressing my freedom over who I am inside and not how society sees me.
“I am really happy about the way my classmates supported me and I hope it serves as an example to others to feel encouraged to do the right thing.

The school, for its part, backed down and decided to change its policy (no word explicitly on whether the fine was rescinded). The fact that this is Brazil may lead some to believe that this story was not so unusual, given the large transgender population in that nation. However, culturally speaking, Brazil suffers from a cultural dichotomy or love-hate relationship with transgender persons. Brazil leads the world for the number of murders of transgender women, as well as the number of transgender prostitutes (called travesti). This document in the Transas City collection gives quite a bit of information on the travesti (don’t be thrown by the use of the word “transvestite” in the document; it’s being used to represent both crossdressers and transgender persons).

Brazil: Schoolboys wear skirts in protest after trans girl fined for wearing female uniform · PinkNews.co.uk.

CBS Profiles Trans Youth, as Poll Shows Objections to Trans Accommodations

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Transgender children were covered as a topic on CBS Sunday Morning in a fairly positive manner, but they did devote a bit of time to the haters, as well as focusing on a poll showing that a wide majority of Americans believe transgender students should not be allowed to use their gender-congruent bathrooms.

The CBS poll, conducted in March and released this week, found that only 26 percent of respondents believe trans students should be given access to restrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity, whereas 59 percent of those polled believe trans individuals should be forced to use facilities of their birth-assigned gender. Fifteen percent of poll respondents either did not know or did not answer the question.

Women were more likely than men to believe that trans students should be given access gender-appropriate facilities, with 29 percent of women in favor of transgender-affirmative public accommodations compared to 23 percent of men. Thirty-three percent of self-identified Democrats support trans students, compared to only 16 percent of Republicans.

Unfortunately, the Advocate concludes that the smear tactics of the Pacific Justice Institute and other hate groups may be working:

These tactics, often described as the “bathroom meme,” rely on thoroughly debunked myths involving a fear that people will claim to be transgender simply as a means to gain access to restrooms and locker rooms so that they can more easily assault unsuspecting women. But perhaps, as the poll indicates, the tactics are having some success.

WATCH: CBS Profiles Trans Youth, as Poll Shows Objections to Trans Accommodations | Advocate.com.

UPDATE: Interviews with the Parents of a Transgender Girl

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This is a continuation of the post I made yesterday where it made the news that a transgender girl was coming out at a Raytown elementary school. This update from a different network features two video interviews with the parents of another Kansas City transgender girl which are definitely worth viewing. I know the family well and they are even more brave and awesome than their interviews let on.

Boy at Raytown elementary school asks to be called Jasmine – KCTV5.

US Dept. of Education Announces Title IX Protects Trans Students

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There is a new announcement that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 now “makes clear that the federal Title IX law prohibits discrimination against transgender students.” Here are the relevant clarifications from the FAQ released by the Department of Education. While primarily concerned with addressing sexual violence, the full text concerning transgender youth says:

B-1. Does Title IX protect all students from sexual violence?

Answer: Yes. Title IX protects all students at recipient institutions from sex discrimination, including sexual violence. Any student can experience sexual violence: from elementary to professional school students; male and female students; straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students; part-time and full-time students; students with and without disabilities; and students of different races and national origins.

and further:

Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation. Similarly, the actual or perceived
sexual orientation or gender identity of the parties does not change a school’s obligations.

Indeed, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth
report high rates of sexual harassment and sexual violence. A school should investigate and resolve allegations of sexual violence regarding LGBT students using the same procedures and standards that it uses in all complaints involving sexual violence. The fact that incidents of sexual violence may be accompanied by anti-gay comments or be partly based on a student’s actual or perceived sexual orientation does not relieve a school of its obligation under Title IX to investigate and remedy those instances of sexual violence.

If a school’s policies related to sexual violence include examples of particular types of conduct that violate the school’s prohibition on sexual violence, the school should consider including examples of same-sex conduct. In addition, a school should ensure that staff are capable of providing culturally competent counseling to all complainants . Thus, a school should ensure that its counselors and other staff who are responsible for receiving and responding to complaints of sexual violence, including investigators and hearing board members, receive appropriate training about working with LGBT and gender-nonconforming students and same-sex sexual violence.

Pretty unambiguous wording, which in a sweeping way now protects transgender students at any public school which receives government funding.

Good Grief! Texas Transgender Teacher Banned From the Classroom After Her Suspension

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I reported earlier on a transgender substitute teacher in the quaint hamlet of ~~Peyton Place~~ Lumberton, Texas, who faced losing her job after bigoted parents complained about her transgender status. In the last news update, Laura Jane Klug had triumphed and won her job back.
Or wait – it turns out that the school district has given her a job which bans her from the classroom! From the article:

Last week, Klug accepted a full-time position with the district through the end of the school year, but as a condition of employment, she promised not to detail what her new position involves. She was able to confirm to Lone Star Q, however, that she is not working as a teacher.

Unfortunately, it’s a decision which Klug is being forced to take:

“I said I’m willing to do whatever because I really need a paycheck. It doesn’t make me very happy, but I think it should placate [the parents] somewhat.”

I think it’s terrible that the school has to resort to economic pressure to try and sweep this under the rug. The article notes that Klug might still have a lawsuit against the district, but that may be difficult to do in reality.

Texas Transgender Teacher Banned From the Classroom Following Suspension | Advocate.com.

Two Schools, Two Acts of Discrimination

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Here are two short stories, one takes place at a high school, one at a university, and both involve trans-discrimination.

In the first report, senior Anais Celini at Martin Luther High School in Queens, New York, was told her boyfriend, transman Nathaniel Baez was not welcome at their school prom because “his transition was unconventional and not beneficial.” The second word throws me, and is reported as a quote by the Huffington Post. What do they mean by “beneficial?”

Instead of fighting the decision the couple have decided to not challenge the school and hold their own private prom elsewhere. Honestly, it’s difficult to find fault with the couple – while on one side I wish they would fight so they would pave the way for those who follow them, at the same time they are just kids, and kids have enough stress and hassle as it stands without throwing into everything a media sensation and spending a lot of time with lawyers.

In our next story we have the case of transman Jayce M., who is seeking permission from George Fox University, Oregon, to move into the male dorm after he completes transition. The university has told him that he isn’t welcome in the dorms with room mates, and should stay either off campus or in a single rooms.

The university’s position is somewhat baffling:

“George Fox strives to be a Christ-centered community, and our residential facilities are single sex because of our theological commitments. The student’s request to switch from female-only on campus housing to male-only on campus housing is one that many institutions would struggle with.”

They would rather have a transman living with women rather than with men – and they believe this is the “Christ-centered” way of doing things? Really?

Couple Plans Own Prom After School Bars Transgender Boyfriend From Attending.

Transgender Texas Teacher Triumphs

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After a contentious school board meeting in Lumberton, Texas, a transgender substitute teacher who was suspended purely on account of being transgender (after complaints from ~~concerned parents~~ the usual transphobic bigots was reinstated at her job.

This is awesome news, although it’s clear form this and other reports on the incident that the sole reason the School Board decided to keep her on was fear of a costly EEOC lawsuit – one which they would likely lose. Some comments from the parents are either saddening or disgusting, depending upon how much credit you want to give them.

“This has caused elementary students to be confused. Asking questions of their parents wondering why a female teacher has facial hair,” said one parent.

“We’re just now talking to our kids about the birds and the bees. I’m not sure how we’re supposed to explain this. He hired in as a male. He is a male,” said another parent.

Just think about explaining your bigotry to your kids someday. Like when I heard a woman in her 70’s say once “well, white’s only drinking fountains were just a ‘thing’….everybody did it.” Nope, nothing wrong there!

Transgender substitute teacher returns to work – Tucson News Now.