Colorado school bars transgendered 1st-grader from using girls' restroom

[Karee 4,191]

(CNN) -- Just like she did during the first half of the school year, first grader Coy Mathis wants to use the girls' restroom at her Colorado elementary school. But school officials won't let her.

The reason? Coy is transgendered, born with male sex organs but a child who identifies herself as female.

She has dressed as a girl for most of last year. And her passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.

In December, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District informed Coy's parents that Coy would be barred from using the girls' restrooms at Eagleside Elementary in Fountain after winter break.

She could instead use the boys' bathroom, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms or the nurse's bathroom, the district said.

In making the decision, 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," attorney W. Kelly Dude said."However, I'm certain you can appreciate that as Coy grows older and his male genitals develop along with the rest of his body, at least some parents and students are likely to become uncomfortable with his continued use of the girls' restroom."

By forcing Coy to use a different bathroom than all the other girls, the school is "targeting her for stigma, bullying and harassment," Michael Silverman, one of Coy's lawyers and the executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, said.

"Coy's school has the opportunity to turn this around and teach Coy's classmates a valuable lesson about friendship, respect and basic fairness."

On Wednesday, Coy's parents will announce that they will file a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

Policies vary

The issue of transgender identity is somewhat new, and policies vary in school districts around the country.

In New York, for example, the law says students can't be discriminated on the basis of their gender identity.

In Maine, on the other hand, 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 girl's restroom.

Dude has said there are no Colorado cases that require public schools to permit transgender students to use restrooms of the gender with which they identify.

He added that the district adheres to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act because "Coy attends class as all other students, is permitted to wear girls' clothes, and is referred to as the parents have requested."

She also has easy access to bathrooms other than the girls' restroom, Dude said..

Coy's case will be the first to challenge such a restriction under the state's anti-discrimination act, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund said.

For now, the first-grader is being homeschooled.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2....html?hpt=hp_c1

Edited February 27, 2013 by Karee

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Can we just copy and paste the responses from the last thread about a transgender kid?

[Karee 4,191]

Can we just copy and paste the responses from the last thread about a transgender kid?

Yeah we should do the same about gun control threads.

[decocker 7,198]

girls bathrooms have doors, they're private toilets. boys bathrooms are open, toilets exposed. which setting is going to provide the most privacy to all kids involved, without ostracizing the kid?

[SMR 368]

girls bathrooms have doors, they're private toilets. boys bathrooms are open, toilets exposed. which setting is going to provide the most privacy to all kids involved, without ostracizing the kid?

You think she wants to use a urinal?

[decocker 7,198]

You think she wants to use a urinal?

no, i think she wants to use the girls bathroom.

[Teddy B 17,252]

(CNN) -- Just like she did during the first half of the school year, first grader Coy Mathis wants to use the girls' restroom at her Colorado elementary school. But school officials won't let her.

The reason? Coy is transgendered, born with male sex organs but a child who identifies herself as female.

She has dressed as a girl for most of last year. And her passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.

In December, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District informed Coy's parents that Coy would be barred from using the girls' restrooms at Eagleside Elementary in Fountain after winter break.

She could instead use the boys' bathroom, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms or the nurse's bathroom, the district said.

I think the school made the right decision. I wouldn't want my child, whether it be a boy or girl, being exposed to a member of the opposite sex in the school bathroom. I'm not sure why the offer to use the non-gender faculty bathrooms wasn't sufficient for this child and his/her parents, sounds like they want their cake and eat it too.

In my opinion a child this young does not posess the faculties to understand what his/her sexual orientation truly is. The parents should be focusing their child in other areas.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Teddy B

[Penny Lane 8,159]

In my opinion a child this young does not posess the faculties to understand what his/her sexual orientation truly is. The parents should be focusing their child in other areas.

Gender and sexual orientation are two different things, though.

[Danno 1,228]

It is stunning that these are the news stories of the day.

Think back at how unheard of something like this would have been except to a few professionals treating the child say 50 years ago.

Now jump 50 years forward and imagine (if you can) what would be the news of the day then if this culture stays on course.

When I hear these stories my sympathies are for this poor child, The screwed up parents and school are really the perpetrators here.

[decocker 7,198]

When I hear these stories my sympathies are for this poor child, The screwed up parents and school are really the perpetrators here.

how are they the perpetrators, dr. danno?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

It is stunning that these are the news stories of the day.

Think back at how unheard of something like this would have been except to a few professionals treating the child say 50 years ago.

Now jump 50 years forward and imagine (if you can) what would be the news of the day then if this culture stays on course.

When I hear these stories my sympathies are for this poor child, The screwed up parents and school are really the perpetrators here.

Have you ever read or watched interviews with transgender adults whose parents tried to "do the right thing" and force their boys to dress/act like boys and their girls to dress/act like girls even though the children voiced that they thought there was something 'wrong' with them? Like the "good old days"? They generally don't end well for the parents or the child.

A lot of things were ignored 50 years ago even though they were happening.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Gender and sexual orientation are two different things, though.

The gender is known, by definition, he's a boy. Not sure what else to call it besides orientation at this point, because I don't believe the child is mature enough to truly know that he/she is of a different gender. I think the parents are spending far too much time and effort focusing on this, which is adding fuel to the childs thoughts. It needs to play out over time, perhaps when the child goes through puberty he/she will think much differently.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

how are they the perpetrators, dr. danno?

Because Danno finds this icky. That's why.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

The gender is known, by definition, he's a boy. Not sure what else to call it besides orientation at this point, because I don't believe the child is mature enough to truly know that he/she is of a different gender. I think the parents are spending far too much time and effort focusing on this, which is adding fuel to the childs thoughts. It needs to play out over time, perhaps when the child goes through puberty he/she will think much differently.

Agreed. How could a 6 year old possibly make this choice? And chances are down the road when he discovers masturbation, peeing in the girls room won't seem as attractive.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I will never forget a documentary I watched a few years back about a man who felt he was a girl, but his parents were extremely religious and "old fashioned". They thought he was just weird, that it was just a phase, and since he was so young when he made this 'choice', they forced him to dress as a boy, act like a boy, refused to call him by the girl name that he'd chosen for himself. He felt like he didn't fit in, both boys AND girls at school were relentless in their teasing of him for being different.

He grew up with the idea in his head that there was something very wrong with him. He felt inadequate and broken. Not like the other boys, but not a girl either so he didn't fit in anywhere. His parents all but disowned him because he wouldn't "give it up" and live life the "normal" way. He never ended up getting the gender reassignment surgery he so desperately wanted because apparently, he found it easier to simply kill himself.

For some kids, it might be just a phase. For some kids, it could be the parents pushing something onto their child. But that's not the case for all children, and I think it's very dangerous to force a child into feeling a certain way when they simply don't. All to make everyone else around them "comfortable" ...