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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 3:55:54 PM | http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/a...RTICLE_ID=59526
A Free Press
For A Free People
Founded 1997 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Evening Edition
BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
District allows boy in girls' restrooms
Grandfather accuses officials of discriminating against heterosexuals
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Posted: January 4, 2008
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com
A school district following Maine's Human Rights Law and providing special accommodations to a 10-year-old with "sexual orientation or gender identification" issues is being accused of discrimination by a man whose grandson is being denied those same accommodations because of his sexual orientation – that of heterosexuality.
The dispute at Asa C. Adams Elementary School in Orono has the school committee on the defense, the grandfather on the march, and the local Bangor News newspaper trying to set rules for "Christian" behavior for the community.
At the heart of the issue is the treatment being provided an unidentified 10-year-old at the elementary school, according to documentation from the Christian Civic League of Maine.
The organization is reporting Paul Melanson found out his grandson's school was allowing another boy to use the girl's restroom, and decided that wasn't right. He told his grandson to follow the other boy into the girl's restroom whenever he saw the other boy doing it, and when he did, the boy was confronted by school officials and warned against such behavior, and the grandfather was confronted by police.
However, Melanson responded to those concerns by alleging the school was discriminating against his grandson by depriving him of the accommodations allowed others, simply because of his sexual orientation, an action banned under state law.
League attorney Steve Whiting confirmed Melanson has a point, noting that the state's "gay" rights law passed in 2005 indicates Melanson's grandson should be able to use the girl's bathroom if the school allows another 10-year-old boy to do that.
Now Melanson, whose battle may very well be foreshadowing similar issues that appear to be developing in other parts of the country with similar "gender issues" laws, is vowing to continue the battle.
When the local school committee scheduled five minutes of meeting time for him to present his concerns, he was shut down by officials after three minutes, and left, promising that his lawyer would continue pursuing answers.
His pursuit of answers has been praised by the Civic League, whose executive director, Michael S. Heath, described Melanson's reasoning as "sound."
"Nevertheless, he has been told by school administrators, and the local police, that his grandson cannot use the girls' bathroom. The administration persists [in] allowing only one boy to use the girls' bathroom at the Asa Adams Elementary School," Heath wrote. "Mr. Melanson has asked the school board to produce their written policy on bathroom usage by transgendered children, or any children for that matter. While they have not produced a policy for Mr. Melanson they have allowed the intensity of the discrimination against his grandson to increase. Melanson fears the school may expel him."
Kelly Clenchy, the superintendent for the local Union 87 district, initially told Melanson the "transgendered boy" was only being allowed to use a teacher's restroom, but Melanson later found that appeared to be incorrect. The acting principal also referred to the student as a "special-needs" child.
But Orono School Committee chairman Robert Swindlehurst told Melanson that the bathroom usage by the "transgendered boy" now is "appropriate."
The Bangor Daily News editorialized that the Christian Civic League should "have larger concerns than the bathroom practices of an elementary school student" and called the organization "obsessed with sex."
"The Orono School Committee is to be commended for striving to protect the boy’s identity, and whatever remains of his privacy. And that privacy is at the heart of the matter. The boy's bathroom needs could stem from a past trauma, a physical disability, a psychological malady, or from gender identification issues, none of which should be disclosed to the public," the newspaper said.
"It's likely there are more effective, and certainly more positive ways for the league to be a Christian witness. In these financially difficult times, why doesn't the league serve as a network, facilitating church volunteers to check on seniors and help shovel out their walkways and drives, help close gaps in leaky doors and windows, offer rides to appointments and donate to heating oil accounts for the poor," the editorial continued.
But some readers objected.
"If Supt. Clenchy and Chairman Swindlehurst and the so-called Educators of the Asa Adams Elementary School had handled this situation better than the lying and threatening way that they did, then Melanson probably would not have had to take this to the lengths that he has," suggested Andrea of Mapleton.
"I can't help but see a bit of the holier than thou attitude coming from both the CVL and the editor of this piece," added Vernon of Bangor.
Rick, from Houlton, wanted to take the newspaper editorialists to task.
"According to them, Christ-like means to run around and do nice things for people and just stay out of issues that meddle with the feelings of people directly concerned. Since the only way we really know Jesus is through the New Testament, I was wondering, when is the last time you read what it says about Jesus? Have you ever read it? This Jesus was interested in what is right and wrong to the extent that He threw furniture out of the temple, drove people out with a whip and raised the moral tension so much that the leaders nailed Him to a cross. When you encourage the Christian Civic League to be Christ-like, I wonder, is it a Christ of your own making?" he wrote.
A similar issue is developing in Montgomery County, Md., where citizens have launched a petition drive against a law they say essentially would allow people to choose their gender when using public facilities.
"This is a bad law all around and should be repealed," said Michelle Turner, a spokeswoman for the new group planning to operate under the name Maryland Citizens for Responsible Government.
Its website, Not My Shower, already has been launched.
The new statute was first given the green light by elected officials in Montgomery County and now has been signed into law by County Executive Ike Leggett.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett
"By the stroke of a very powerful pen, County Executive Leggett has broken the biological barriers that separate male and female facilities," the group announcement said. "No longer will women and girls be able to feel completely safe in the most private and personal bathroom and locker facilities of schools, public pools, malls, stores, health clubs, restaurants and other such public places throughout the county."
Even Patrick Lacefield, the county's communications director, told WND that the law does not specifically prevent men who claim to be women or women to claim to be men from using "intimate facilities" such as restrooms and locker rooms that are assigned to the sex they happen to choose.
"We do not feel that it was necessary to explicitly state that," he said.
The plan also could be targeted by a court action, according to officials with an advocacy law firm.
"The definition for 'gender identity' is so vague that no individual of ordinary intelligence can possibly know when they are violating Chapter 27," Robert Tyler, general counsel for the Advocates for Faith & Freedom, told county officials in a letter.
"Pursuant to the definition of 'gender identity,' an individual can choose a gender without limitation whatsoever," he said.
WND also reported officials for Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays were raising concerns about related issue in a local school.
PFOX is engaged in a fight in Montgomery County seeking a court order to halt a public school sex curriculum because it contains "scientifically flawed and politically biased" information.
The organization joined with Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and the Family Leader Network in filing the request for the court-ordered stay of the program targeting middle school and high school students in the district.
The organizations said the local board, headed by Nancy Navarro, adopted the curriculum that teaches anal sex as unexceptional and "intentionally excludes" warnings issued by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health of the high medical dangers related to those behaviors.
Edward L. White III, trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, a prominent public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is assisting PFOX and the pro-family groups in their lawsuit against the school board.
The curriculum includes lessons intended for eighth-graders and adopts the language and points of emphasis employed by promoters of homosexuality. Also, 10th-graders will be taught about making announcements that they are homosexual and how to use a condom
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 4:12:00 PM | Since when does a 10 yr old have "gender issues"? As if it matters at all. If the student is a male in body, then he can stay out of the girls room. If he isn't happy with that, he can wear Depends and keep everyone happy.
If that kind of crap is going to be allowed, perhaps the males should become "female" gender every time they have to hit the can! | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 4:13:58 PM | It's amazing what some bigots will latch onto in order to spread their bile. What a steaming pile of fallacious bullshit. It's a shame that some will be so obtuse and fear-blindered as to actually be fooled by such backward logic.
Ahhhh... "worldnetdailly", ....that explains everything. Logic, reason, and good sense has never found a home there, ...where bullshit thrives | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 4:15:07 PM | Interesting. Hard to take a side, without knowing exactly why the first boy was allowed to use the girl's bathroom. Perhaps he has female genitalia or something similar. Talk about unwanted attention.
So far, twice I accidently went into the ladies room. Both times I thought it was the mens room, and was startled that there were no urinals, but non the less, I proceeded to use one of the stalls.
The first time I was alone, but the second time, and older lady came out, as I was washing my hands. I muttered something to the affect that I might have made a bit of a mistake. "Looks like it," was her only comment. No fuss, no screams, nothing.
Now that was a real lady. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 4:37:13 PM | If this child is actually transgender then he needs some type of special provisions made. Whether using the girls restroom (which ALL have stalls) or a teacher restroom (which the article said he was doing). YES, a 10 y/o can easily have gender identity issues. Do you think your 10 y/o son or daughter don't know what gender they are? transgender does not mean homosexual. It means he views himself as a female (and has from the minute he identified with a gender). People need to grow up. What if this was your child? Would you want him to have to use the boys restroom and risk being beaten, raped (YES, children that young do rape one another on occasion), or worse? It happens. If everyone would wake up and realize the whole world doesn't fit into one nice little cubby it would be a much better place to live.
Oh, and just a side note. I live alone with my three sons. Anytime I am out shopping with them and have to use the restroom I make them go in with me. They are 10, 8, and 6. I don't, personally, care what anyone thinks. I am not risking having my children kidnapped just because some idiot is embarrassed to have a boy in the women's restroom. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 7:15:09 PM | This is a difficult issue.
Also, there are facts missing. If the child is transgender, I can understand the "special permission". Again, there are so many details missing that I fail to understand how this special permission would NOT draw any undue attention to the child...
I am a teacher and often times, the lines are not as black and white when it comes to trying to do the most sensible thing for all of the children. I understand the grandfather's views. He comes from an other generation where even knowing of a transgender child would be unheard of... Still...
This is where I have a problem with certain situations. With the younger children, safety of the group is very important. They need an environment where they can learn and feel safe.
This is where I have a certain "malaise" with certain decisions. Take the child that is allergic to peanut butter. If a child who is allergic to peanut butter was in my group, then all the children CANNOT have anything that has nuts of smells like peanut butter or any other composite of any food with traces of nut or nut oil. (I love to have an almond dish on my desk... I am an almond junkie!!! My dish would have to go.)
Complaints of parents with children that actually like peanut butter, or snacks with nuts will complain. Basically, why should their child be "punished", (their words), because of ONE child with an allergy. Their point of view is to make sure the parents educate their child NOT TO EAT PEANUTS. Issue solved right?
Well.... do you know how many children trade food items and ... well, you just have to be there....
It is a difficult issue to make sure that all the needs of children are met. Yes, sometimes all the children must make a "sacrifice" in order to assure the safety of the whole group.
It is an issue. In this example, the child allergic to peanut butter, will be with his classmates from kindergarden to high school, assuming he does not move. So, all those kids that will follow each other will "NEVER" be able to bring a peanut butter sandwich to school... Is that fair?... I am just asking. Surely, there has to be an age where the child has enough "common sense" as not to consume anything made with nuts. Right?
Anyway.... just a thought.
I do not understand the stuborness of the grandfather. Surely, his actions has an impact on his grandson. There must be some friction among his peers at school. Surely, the grandfather realizes that his grandson is also being noticed and his routine is disturbed....
Where are the parents in all of this?... I mean, they too have their say and deal with this issue... Too many details missing here... Still, the accomodation given to the child was I hope the best solution to the issue at hand. I mean, I would hope that the principal and the teaching staff would have considered the well being of all the children in that situation.
Just a few thoughts added to the forum table here...
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 8:11:59 PM | It's always amazing how far people will take their silliness.
It's not a matter that 1 kid is allowed to use the girls room. Doesn't the grandfather think that there must be a good reason why the kid is using the girls room ?
Now, if all the other boys were allowed to go into the girls room but his kid was being kept out, then he might have a case.
He should just let it go and mind his own business. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/30/2008 8:41:38 PM |
Just turn all washrooms into co-ed with a lock on them. Problem solved.
Honestly, one of the best and most logical solutions of all. :) I know a lot of businesses are starting to have "family restrooms" for mixed genders to use. It is certainly helpful. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 2:31:56 AM | | I think allowing this boy in the girls bathroom violates the rights of the girls. I have been out with a few 'gay' men. And they are, gay men. They are not women. There is a lesbian women working in 'houskeeping' on one of the units where I work. We had a patient that was sexually inappropriate with women. Being that this housekeeper was to spend alot of time down the hall by herself, for her safty, she was assigned another ward until this perverted patient was discharged. She has gender issues. Should she have been treated like a man and left alone with this patient? I dont think so. Late, Do you think the hospital was being bigoted because they refused to treat her as a man, when it was ordered no women were to be alone on the unit. If rules are changed to allow gay boys/men in girls/womens restrooms, whats to stop a straight rapist pretending to be gay to gain access to womens bathrooms. Its like saying immature teens should be allowed to get childrens discounts, or not allowing a mature child to get a childrens discount.We all are what we are, no matter what kind of issues we have.We should be treated that way. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 3:50:49 AM | | Arieanne, the thing you seem to be overlooking is that this child is not gay. He is transgender. You say "we are what we are....". That is not always the case, and with a child such as this, it is not. Forcing him to go in the boys restroom would have been more the equivalent of making that housekeeper take care of the sexually abusive patient and putting her in harms way. Damn people, it is the year 2008. When are you all going to wake up. Isn't it time to educate yourselves? This child sees himself as a girl and will spend the rest of his life doing so. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 7:29:28 AM | Are they going to let a transgender girl into the boys washroom?
Does this boy announce himself before entering a girls washroom? If he does not, a girl in the washroom may be tramitized with a boy coming in there. Stalls are a non issue. There are stalls in the boys washroom. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 8:15:58 AM |
Does this boy announce himself before entering a girls washroom? If he does not, a girl in the washroom may be tramitized with a boy coming in there. Stalls are a non issue. There are stalls in the boys washroom.
I'm trying to imagine under what circumstances going into a room with member of the opposite sex suddenly causes a person to be "tramitized". | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 8:21:00 AM |
I'm trying to imagine under what circumstances going into a room with member of the opposite sex suddenly causes a person to be "tramitized".
I sincerely hope it takes a bit more than that. If not, I have successfully traumatized a good portion of the town in which we live taking my boys to the restroom with me. If this is the case, the therapists here need to start paying me commission. :)
Oh, and for good old bill up there saying boys restrooms have stalls, again, this boy views himself as a girl. Would you want YOUR 10 y/o daughter to be forced to use the boys restroom and deal with all the boys at the urinal? They do NOT have stalls for those. | |
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MRJSD
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Joined: 1/26/2008
Msg: 16 | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 1:14:16 PM | I think we need to stop thinking and using the archaic thinking that there are only two sexes and people only identify with two sexes. There are many many more sexes out there, and many more indendities that the archaic thinking uses.
You know what, have your male and female bathrooms, but have you noticed how some business have come around and introduced things like family restrooms or unisex bathrooms. It's the wave of the future, and it will happen with or without you.
The only question I have is are these people and people like them going to move into the new millennium and the present time, or are they going to be stuck in the 1500s? | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 2:05:06 PM | Ok,Does he have a pecker or not.The thread title imply's he does being it refers to him as a boy.As in transgender boy. he should use the boys bathroom. Trangender girls may use the girls bathroom. Whats so hard to understand?
Just because he dresses like a girl doers not mean he is a girl. Unless some stupid parent allowed their 10 year old to have the surgery and a stupid doctor performed it. If the child is a morphodite, that would be a different story. | |
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Jemue
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Joined: 1/26/2005
Msg: 19 | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 2:16:09 PM | while I recognize that TG and gay arent the same thing (although politically, they may as well be) I also recognize that if he is still a he, his entitlement to use the girl's bathroom is not something I see as valid or even appropriate - no matter what he identifies himself as.
no further accomodations should be made other than what he already has been granted. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 8:11:04 PM | You have to consider the privacy and comfort level of all the other students. It's not just about one student with an unusual issue. If many other students are uncomfortable with him being in the girls' restroom, then he shouldn't be allowed there. The fact is that the transgender boy is NOT a genetic female. His gender chromosome pairing is "XY". He has no Barr bodies in his cheeks. He still has a male sexual organ. There are many other genetic markers which make him male.
Give the TB a separate restroom, or consign him back to the boys' restroom. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 1/31/2008 8:36:56 PM | So we just been talking about the TB.
Msg1
<div class="quote">BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
District allows boy in girls' restrooms
Grandfather accuses officials of discriminating against heterosexuals.
The organization is reporting Paul Melanson found out his grandson's school was allowing another boy to use the girl's restroom, and decided that wasn't right. He told his grandson to follow the other boy into the girl's restroom whenever he saw the other boy doing it, and when he did, the boy was confronted by school officials and warned against such behavior, and the grandfather was confronted by police.
So are the officials discriminating against his grandson, for not letting him go into the girls washroom?
Now if a heterosexual was allowed in the girls washroom, the TB was following the heterosexual him. The school official confronted the TB and warned against such behavior.
Would that be discrimination?
Damm right it would be. Why? The TB is a minority, not the majority.
When would all this racism, discrimination end?
When the minorities stop yelling discrimination every time, something offends them, or They were not hired for a job.
As for racism. When minorities stop playing the race card, when one of their own gets into trouble with the law. They were not hired for a job.
The fact is. Sometime down the road, something you say or do is going to offend someone somewhere. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 2/1/2008 1:35:17 AM | arieann isn't that being a little insensitive? read up on gender identity.
these people don't chose to be who they are.. they don't chose a life of ridicule and loss of dignity.. they are living the identity that suits them BECAUSE THIS IS WHO THEY ARE.
the fact that this person has "In your words " a pecker should have no more bearing than if you were to have an unusually enlarged clitoris.
(especially if they were so needing to be their self oriented true gender that they are probably on hormone therapy and destined for surgery eventually anyway. thus making the extra equipment a non issue.")
If the trangendered child is that much a female in mind that one is compelled to dress act and feel the role of a female then what business does this child have going to a boys restroom anyway ?
Its a place where there are typically hoards of ignorant and backwards thinking males eager to physically abuse and torment this child.
I would think the motivation this child has is not simply to enter into your self proclaimed holyground "for genetic women only".. but merely a place to do ones business and maintain dignity and safety.
maybe you should be a hall monitor for the school and look under every girls skirt before they walk in.. "just to be safe LOL. | |
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| transgender boy can use girls restroom at school
Posted: 2/1/2008 2:21:23 AM | | No, I am not being insensitive. I am being real. He is a boy. How he feels is his not an issue. I am sensitive to his feelings. But think of the little girls. Do they not have rights? Should all the girls in the school be required to give up their dignity for one child? As far as the child being teased in the boys bathroom, girls may do that as well. And him using the girls bathroom will only give the other kids more ammunition. Yes, feeling female is who he is, but being male is also who he is.If we all are given special privileges because of how we feel,there would be no use for rules. Should a 20 year old be allowed to by beer because he feels older? Shoud a 21 year old be denied to buy beer because he feels like a teenager. Should a mental patient be released because he feels sane? Should this boy be denied to try out for the boys baseball team because he feels like a girl? I am sure everyone feels something they are not,in some way.Some people believe its exceptable to have sex with girls if they are able to have babies. They say its nature. Does that mean a 35 year old man should be allowed to have sex with a 9 year old girl, because of how he feels? | |
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