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Whose Rights Are Bill Schuette Protecting? Certainly Not My son’s.
I
have a 17-year-old son. He’s about to be
a senior in high school. He’s learning
to drive. He has a part-time job, and he
is painting his room. He’s a pretty typical
teenager in most ways. He listens to music
I don’t understand; he consumes media I’ve
never heard of; he devours
junk food at three o’clock
in the morning. When he
is at school, at the mall
or anywhere else outside
of the home, he uses the
men’s restroom. Why
wouldn’t he?
Well, my son is
transgender. This means
Roz Gould
that he was assigned
Keith
female at birth and
identifies as male. He socially transitioned to
a boy more than three years ago and began
his medical transition well over a year ago.
According to Michigan Attorney General
Bill Schuette, my son’s right to use the bath-
room that matches his identity interferes
with the rights and safety of all the other
students in schools across the state. Schuette
has joined nine other states in a lawsuit
challenging the federal guidance directing
schools to “grant transgender students access
to restrooms and locker rooms that match
their gender identity.”
Schuette’s belief that the lawsuit seeks
to “protect the dignity and privacy of all
Michigan students” is ignorant and mis-
guided. How does keeping my son out of
the boys’ bathroom protect his dignity or
his privacy? I’m pretty sure that no parent
would want my 17-year-old son in the girls’
bathroom or the girls’ locker room at school.
And why should my son be required to use a
special bathroom or changing facility? Why
are his rights less important than another
student’s rights?
Here’s what happens when kids can’t
use the bathroom of their choice, one that
matches their identity. They either “hold it”
all day until they get home or are “outed”
because they are directed to a designated
restroom different from the one their peers
are using. People who are transgender
already feel different. In an interview
recently, my son said that he always felt like
the “weird” kid. Adolescence is hard enough
without all of the drama surrounding school
bathroom use.
Often kids are “stealth” at school. This
means that no one (except for select
administrative personnel) at school knows
they are trans. If that child is forced to use
a separate bathroom, it lets everyone know
they are different. They become a target for
bullying and harassment, and it reinforces
the idea that they are the “weird” kid.
Transgender individuals are eight times more
likely to commit suicide than the general
population; 41 percent of transgender people
have attempted suicide. And 57 percent
of trans youth without supportive parents
have attempted suicide. According to Trans
Student Equality Resources, 80 percent of
transgender students felt unsafe, 49 percent
have reported physical abuse at school and
Yiddish Limerick
Arthur M. Horwitz
Publisher / Executive Editor
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F. Kevin Browett
Chief Operating Officer
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| Editorial
Hunter, 17, and Richard Keith
58.7 percent have been verbally harassed (at
school).
It is important for Mr. Schuette and those
who stand behind his actions, to understand
how critical these federal protections are for
every child in this state. To be clear, up until
three years ago, I, too, defined gender by
body parts. Fortunately for my son and so
many others like him, we now know that it’s
not always the case. For trans people, their
identity and their biological sex are differ-
ent. Just because my son’s assigned gender at
birth was female does not make him less of
a man.
It’s time we started practicing tolerance,
teaching our kids to be open to differences
and, as adults, be a beacon of kindness for
our children.
*
Roz Gould Keith of Farmington is the creator of Ally
Moms and the blog CallHimHunter and founder of the
nonprofit Stand with Trans (standwithtrans.org).
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HERZL’S YAHRTZEIT 20 TAMMUZ
Ehr hot gezogt* im tirtzu,** and boy was he right.
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* Ehr hot gezogt — he said
** im tirtzu — if you will it (Hebrew)
*** Di Yiddishe shtot — the Jewish state
**** mit dine zorgn — with your worry
***** Un vart nisht far morgn — And don’t wait for
tomorrow
****** gay tzu Isroel — go to Israel
******* kaif — buy
— Rachel Kapen
6 July 28 • 2016
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