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 Transgender Student 
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A friend of mine has a sister still in high school where there is a male student who dresses in female clothes and wishes to use the female restroom. The school is very conservative and does not corporate with the student. The student has even been suggested, from the school, to transfer to another school. I feel that schools like this are the reason transgender people are the victims of so many hate crimes. The other students are seeing that it is OK to not accept this student.

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Matthew Dowell


Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:09 pm
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The whole bathroom issue is touchy. Honestly, I don't know how I'd feel if I knew a man was using the same restroom as me. If I can play devil's advocate, I know that you can't force people to accept people's lifestyle choices. Me for instance, I don't agree with their lifestyle, but I would never do anything to hurt a transgender person. We've come a long way with accepting other people's lifestyles and accepting people's different races and cultures, but I think some things just take getting used to.
As far as the school is concerned, I really don't know what to say about that. Maybe they won't let this boy use the girls bathroom because it would make the girls really uncomfortable. Im not sure what the reason is for not letting him use the girls bathroom, but I'm sure school is not the only place where he'll have these problems.

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Jessey Pace


Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:57 pm
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The movie was so interesting in class today. Not that it matters, but I have way more empathy for a male/female who feels "trapped" in the opposite sex's body than i do a male/female who wakes up one morning and wants to live their life as the opposite sex from what they are....i don't know where i stand...it's soooo complicated! uggghh! I have absolutely NO TOLERANCE for the hate crimes. I hate thinking about any human being not receiving the same health benefits as another one due to circumstances such as these.

And Matthew, it is sad to think about students being blatantly discriminated for any sort of sexual/transgendered identity issues AT SCHOOL. I would allow the student to use a handicap bathroom or staff bathroom if one was available....and if not then that is definitely an issue that would have to be addressed quickly in a board meeting or something!!

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Candace Powell


Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:17 pm
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Candace, that is the same way I feel. Why not allow a handicap or teacher restroom? What is there any harm in that? I do not know the student, but I have heard the stories of them. It is such a good opportunity for this small town school to open up the eyes of their students and educate them on different type of people, but no the administration will not take have anything to do with it. It's sad.

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Matthew Dowell


Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:26 am
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It's interesting because if this boy feels as if he is a girl and is attracted to men then he's not going to be a threat to any of the women in the restroom. Also if the girls get to know him, most likely they will end up liking him and wouldn't feel uncomfortable especially if it was explained to them that this girl who looks like a boy isn't interested in them. Now if he's a lesbian transsexual then you might have a problem just like we have the issue of people being afraid that they might be standing next to a gay man in the restroom.

Why don't we just have all encompassing restrooms where everyone just goes wherever? I think that's a good idea. It's too bad that our culture is built on the idea that "real men" want to rape women or treat them poorly in some way. Maybe as our culture matures and men are allowed to be more in touch with their feminine side (to a lesser degree than a trans-gendered person) possibly as a result of education about trans-gendered people then we'll have a society where that isn't an issue anymore and everyone uses the restroom in the same place.

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Christopher M. McKinney


Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:54 am
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I kind of feel like this is an issue with little hope of being resolved. On one side I feel that if this male student who feels as though he is more woman than man wants to use the female bathroom than he should be able to use it. I mean there are stalls to do your business so it should not be a big deal. But I can also understand possibly the uncomfortable situation it could present for some of the girls in the school. I totally agree that if there were a handicapped bathroom than the student should be allowed to use that, but honestly genetically the student is still a male and therefore if there is controversy over it than he or she should use the men's bathroom. In public he can use whatever bathroom he or she wants, but the feelings of the other students have to be taken into consideration too.

I'm also really not sure about all encompassing bathrooms, perhaps there should be three bathrooms. But even if there were three bathrooms, wouldn't those who felt female still want to use the female bathrooms? I don't know. I don't think there is an easy answer at all.

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Kayla Danielle Keidel


Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:58 am
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I have actually heard of many places who are actually having transgender bathrooms installed, a bathroom available for either gender. i swear I've heard of this happening... does anybody else know what I'm talking about or am I on something?

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Caitlin Cashman


Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:14 pm
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The only answer to this is to have a unisex bathroom available for students to use, in addition to the public men and women's restrooms.

Chris, we cannot have "all encompassing restrooms where everyone just goes wherever" because of rape. And I think you are wrong to say that men rape because of the way our culture is. I don't know about you, but I was not raised on the ideals of degradation of women. In a perfect world, you might have a point, but our world is far from perfect. There will always be sexual predators and it will never be safe for men and women to share a large public restroom together. You also cannot speak for all women, to say that they may be comfortable with a transsexual student in the restroom if they got to know them. This may be true for some, but I'm sure there are a few women who would be uncomfortable with the idea even after befriending the person in question. Just because you like a person does not mean you will be comfortable sharing a bathroom space.

The point is, there will be many people uncomfortable in that situation, and it is easier for the school to inconvenience one individual than to inconvenience the masses. As I said, additional small unisex bathrooms are the answer.

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Dustin King


Sun Apr 19, 2009 6:39 pm
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Remember the groups fighting for equal rights for transgendered people. I bet one of the things they fight for is a third "unisex" bathroom.

In my opinion, letting a boy use the girls restroom in high school is out of the question. The girls aren't mature enough to understand this persons unique situation. The person may just be going through a cross-dressing phase, since he is so young and probably hasn't fully figured everything out in regards to his sexual orientation. While it seems utterly absurb, I don't think it would be totally out of the question for this person to be acting like a girl to get into the girls bathroom and locker room. I don't want to blame this person for doing that I'm just saying its a possibility and something the administration would have to consider when deciding where the student needs to go the bathroom. I agree the handicapped bathroom (if a separate one exists) would be the best option.

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Peter Tarricone


Mon Apr 20, 2009 1:53 pm
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In Old Belk Library, there are 2 bathrooms that are not designated gender. They are off to the side and I have used thme before. No signs for Men or Women just blank. Interesting.

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Shannon Wilson


Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:15 pm
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I must agree with most that the only truly sensible solution in the high school setting. I thought that Dustin made an interesting point. If a transgender male is allowed to use the female bathroom or vice versa, it could open the door from some sticky encounters where students who are flippant and disrespectful take advantage of an open bathroom policy. However, I can only imagine what would happen to female dressing transgender student uses the male bathroom. Teenagers can be so cruel. Definitll allow for them to use a handicap or single bathroom.

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Jessie Stafford


Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:52 pm
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