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US Attorney General Eric Holder is pushing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 far beyond its intended use and logical bounds. The federal agency is engaged in a California battle over a ninth grade student’s transgender rest room request. The beleaguered Attorney General apparently has enough time left over from fighting to kick the Romeike family out of America to distort the laudable intentions of the Civil Rights Act.
The ninth grade California student was born a girl but considers herself a boy. The US Department of Justice recently struck a deal with an affluent Los Angeles school district in Arcadia to resolve the matter. According to the Huffington Post, the agreement states that the transgender student will now be allowed to use the boys’ rest room and locker room at school. Eric Holder also advised the school to create a multitude of measures to make certain that transgender students are viewed as whichever sex they considers themselves to be.
Save California President Randy Thomasson had this to say about the US Justice Department transgender decision:
“Eric Holder needs to reread the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and find out that civil rights are based on an unchangeable, immutable, characteristic. You cannot change your genes or your gender. You have chromosomes and they are either XX or XY. This is a girl who has been environmentally warped to believe she is a boy, and, instead of coddling this confused child, her parents should have gotten her into counseling with an expert on gender confusion.”
As a Libertarian I do not care what another consenting individual does as long as it does not harm anyone else. But, I also do not think we need to be creating another protected class in America and bending over backwards to accommodate every politically correct, stomp your foot, “give it to me now” demand. The California school had addressed the transgender student’s needs in an affordable manner which did not cause emotional distress or uncomfortable situations for any student in the building.
The student’s parents wanted their child to be able to use the boys’ rest room at school. The district understandably denied the request for extremely obvious reasons. The student was permitted to use the private rest room in the nurse’s office at any time. Problem solved—that is until Eric Holder and his equally liberal Justice Department got involved.
A US Department of Justice report on the case noted that the Arcadia Unified School District ninth grader began transitioning her gender from female to male during the fifth grade. The child was allegedly teased during both the typical school day and on a camping trip organized by the California educational institution. After spring break during the same school year, the student began using a male name and started wearing boy’s clothing. The teachers and student at the school were told to use male pronouns when referencing the student. During this time period, the student used a gender-neutral restroom (i.e. nurse’s facility) without incident.
Revisit the counsel of great men and learn how to reclaim the quality of government we once enjoyed.
The transgender student’s parents embarked on a battle to allow their child to use male rest rooms at the school. District administrators continued to refuse based upon overall student privacy concerns and safety worries. When the parents attempted to force the school to allow their daughter into the boys’ room, they were setting her up for more ridicule, possible physical harm, and intruded upon the male students’ right to privacy. It was completely beyond the realm of reasonableness to expect the boys to unzip their pants in front of a genetic female. All of the students have an equal expectation of privacy in the rest room and locker room.
The Traditional Values Coalition does not applaud the transgender agreement. Organization president Andrea Lafferty had this to say about Justice Department’s decision:
“We are seeing a trend here nationally where we have individuals who are psychologically unhealthy who are always getting what they want, but what do you do about the hundreds of other children in the school affected? For a millennium, sex has meant male or female. What they are saying is now you can change that.”
The transgender student reportedly became upset with being forced to use the nurse’s restroom instead of the boy’s restroom by the time she reached high school. Information available in the case indicates that the student still had female genitalia. When the Arcadia Unified School District denied a parental request in 2011, the parents field a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The California transgender student’s parents were upset that their child was not allowed to share a cabin with boys during a school affiliated camping trip.
The agreement the school entered into with the US Justice Department also stated that the district will amend its “policies, procedures, and train staff” to make sure the “appropriate supports” for transgender students exist, if requested. Exactly what the agreement unanimously approved by the California school board means in real terms outside of the restroom or locker room remains to be seen.
Acadia Unified School District Assistant Superintendent David Vannasdall had this to say about the transgender student agreement:
“We are pleased with the collaborative agreement we have worked out with the Department of Justice. We feel it is a reasonable agreement, and we feel it will allow the school to move forward in its mission to support all students.”
The Civil Rights complaint filed with the US Department of Justice claimed that school district policies routinely caused discrimination against the transgender student. The alleged discriminatory behavior supposedly prevented the student’s ability to learn.
The transgender student had this to say in a press release after the agreement was signed:
“[I am] glad that my school district has agreed to put in place the protections that I, and other transgender students, need to feel safe and welcome in school. Knowing that I have the school district’s support, I can focus on learning and being a typical high school student, like my friends.”
Even though I personally do not agree with the transgender concept, the student’s lifestyle choice is not mine to make and harms no one. Yet, the flawed logic in the US Department argument is still stunning. Not being permitted to lodge with male students during a once a year field trip and using a private bathroom could have in no way prevented the transgender student’s classroom learning ability. The other students should not tease their peer simply because she is different, but legislating this kind of behavior is not a viable option. All the attention given to the unreasonable demands will only provoke more chastising behavior from the transgender student’s peers.
California lawmakers recently signed a piece of legislation that would mandate public schools give students access to school sports teams and restrooms based upon their gender identity. Both the girls and the male who identifies as a female have the same expectations of privacy and safety. A genetic male should not be permitted to play on a girls’ sports team or be in the same locker room when the females undress. I have coached multiple sports for many years and there is a definite upper body strength difference between males and female after age 12. Physical harm could come to both transgender and typical students if the sports team dictate is enacted. Governor Jerry Brown has not yet signed the transgender bill into law.
