George Takei made a statement about transgender kids being forced to use their \u201cbiological\u201d restroom rather than their \u201cidentified\u201d restroom \u2013 \u201cthis is a made up issue.”<\/p>\n
On NPR, a man answered the question about transgender and restrooms by saying, \u201cI don\u2019t hang out with people like that.”<\/p>\n
I have had the opportunity to interact with transgender kids. They are not a \u201cdanger\u201d to \u201cour children.” They are kids: kids who have made the most difficult decision of recognizing that their brain sexual identity and their biological sexual identity are not the same. It is such a powerful force that they are willing to face all of the barriers which society marshals against them, just as the kids who find they are gay or bisexual do. It\u2019s not a \u201cchoice,” it\u2019s a recognition of who they are.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been going on in our schools for years. Many schools have quietly taken care of the problem: transgender girls (biological boys) who dress like girls, act like girls; use the girls restroom and no one is the wiser. The same is true with transgender boys (they go in the stalls, as do many non-transgender boys). The old argument of locker rooms and showers is from a totally different generation: today\u2019s kids don\u2019t \u201cget naked\u201d in schools anymore. Most shower rooms (other than for wrestling teams, where most kids wear some form of swimsuit) have become storerooms.<\/p>\n
Most kids don\u2019t have a problem with any of this. They accept the differences of their friends. It\u2019s the adults who are hung up.<\/p>\n
Transgender is the new frontier for identity law. Our society has reached a general understanding of gay and bisexual people; we have removed most of the laws that discriminate against their conduct. In public schools the era of the being gay meaning getting bullied and attacked has changed, the school administration is now often in a role of protecting the victims, rather than enabling the perpetrators. While incidents still occur, in general, kids accept their friends.<\/p>\n
Transgender kids (and adults) are not \u201cmolesters\u201d sneaking into the opposites sexes\u2019 restroom to \u201ccatch a peep.” They are generally the victims. As a society, protecting the civil rights of folks is not a state\u2019s right\u2019s issue. While Attorney General Sessions argues that states should be able to determine these rights, that old argument, a hold over from the Civil War, does not pass legal muster. As the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and the multiple civil rights acts passed since it\u2019s inception state: a citizen of the United States enjoys the rights and protections of all US citizens in every state.<\/p>\n
We should not have different rights in Pennsylvania than we have in North Carolina. This should apply to all forms of discrimination, including transgender folks. And we must NOT discriminate against the most fragile members of our society, children who are discovering that their differences are so much greater than their peers. That\u2019s got to be hard enough, without the government (or the Principal) checking their genitals at the restroom door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"