“There is no truth. There is only perception.”
~Gustave Flaubert
I may have mentioned in prior posts that I enjoy writing about information that interests me, and hopefully others, because oftentimes the issues I discuss are not emphasized by mainstream media. Since I am not trying to market any particular service, I enjoy the freedom to discuss issues that may be controversial.
I absolutely promise that this post is going to cause some thought provoking discussion. I have already had heated discussions and opinions expressed at home, with my mom, and in my office, and I have not written anything thus far other than this introduction!!!
While skimming through the internet, I found a story about a transgender first-grader. His name is Coy Mathis. He is six years old. I have to confess that I never knew that a child, at such a young age, could be a transgender person. In my mind, 6 year old children often have very creative minds, childhood quirks, and other developmental issues that cause them to have many different self-perceptions and doubts.
Can a child believe that he is the opposite sex at the age of 6?
Although, I am somewhat skeptical about a 6 year first-grader being transgender, for the sake of argument, I will rely on the research and information obtained by Coy’s parents. I can only hope and believe that they would not raise a 6 year old child as a transgender person, if they were not 100% sure this is a legitimate fact.
According to Coy’s parents, they sought the assistance of support groups, conducted research, communicated with his pediatrician, and met with a child psychologist. According to all of their fact-finding, Coy’s parents are convinced that they must support Coy’s feelings that he is a girl.
Quoting, Andrea Rael
Coy was born as a male; however, he identifies and presents himself as a girl. He has been attending Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, Colorado since 2011. According to Dan Frosch, Coy is allowed to wear girl’s clothing to school and is referred to as a female, as his parents have requested.
In January of 2013 the school told Coy’s parents that he could no longer use the girl’s bathroom. The school states that it has a bathroom available for Coy in the nurse’s bathroom, the boy’s bathroom, or a staff bathroom. The school’s position is that it has provided reasonable alternatives to Coy, and that there are no Colorado cases which require public schools to permit transgender students to use restrooms of the gender that they believe they are.
Quoting Attorney W. Kelly Dude, legal counsel for the School District.
The school further believes that Coy’s parents are putting his demands regarding use of the girls’ restrooms over those children (or their parents) who are concerned about a boy using a girls’ bathroom.
For instance, high school students in Mississippi protested after a transgender classmate was permitted to wear women’s clothing. The students felt that their classmate was being given preferential treatment given the school district’s gender-specific dress code for them.
Quoting, Dan Frosch
Moreover, the School District is concerned that Coy will obviously grow up into a young man, and his use of a girl’s bathroom may increase the girls’ concerns (and those of their parents) that an adolescent male is using the girl’s restroom. It arguably may not be a big deal for a 6 year old to be in a girls’ bathroom, but what about a 16 year old?
The options provided by Coy’s school were not acceptable to Coy’s parents, so they filed a complaint against the school district with the Colorado School District Civil Rights Division. Coy’s parents are attempting to get his school to change its stance. At the moment, Coy is being home schooled with his siblings. Coy’s parents say that they will not return their children to school until Coy is allowed to use the girls’ bathroom.
Quoting, Dan Frosch
Jill Filipovic, in strong defense of Coy’s position, indicates that in the 29 years of using women’s bathrooms, she has never once caught a glimpse of “anyone else’s bare crotch.”
However, this begs the question in my mind, what if a transgender girl who believes she is a male wants to use a male bathroom? Would it be comfortable for her male classmates, or even safe for her? Again, maybe not a big deal at 6 years old, but attitudes about sex can change dramatically as children become adolescents.
Michael D. Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund best summarizes the transgender position. He states in pertinent part:
“As we think about education around transgender issues at school, it’s important to remember how much relates to the core mission of schools.”
“In Coy’s case, for instance, [Coy’s] school has the opportunity to teach students a powerful lesson about respect, fair play, tolerance and treating others with kindness. That’s a lesson that all schoolchildren would benefit to learn.”
Colorado offers legal protections for transgender people. There are those who argue that those protections extend to schools, where the mundane rituals of going to the bathroom can be traumatic for transgender students.
Who knows what is right or wrong? There are logical arguments on both sides. Coy’s case is slowly unfolding into a major legal dispute that is going to test the question of whether Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws include the right of a 6 year male to use the girls’ bathroom---and will most likely lead to an avalanche of other cases to be filed depending on the outcome.
~Leonardo G. Renaud
