state, school begin to address gender identity issues
“No one has come straight out and said ‘I don’t like you,’ but their ignorance to the whole thing is really offensive. It’s like, you don’t know anything about this, and that’s troubling. No one really has my back at school because they don’t know, and that’s not their fault, but they don’t know what I’m going through, so they can’t really help,” Kevin* said.
Kevin, a student attending a high school in Buncombe County, announced to friends that he was transgender at the end of the school year. As one of the assumed few trans students at his school, he said he knows firsthand of the challenges the transgender community faces on a daily basis.
In 2015, 16.9 million viewers tuned into Caitlyn Jenner’s 20/20 segment and several California cities passed laws requiring single-stall bathrooms to be gender neutral. Yet issues surrounding the transgender community remain a part of mainstream discussions.
According to Principal Amy Rhoney, she believes that overall, TC Roberson does a great job welcoming students with a variety of diversities, including transgender students.
“I think that one of the things that Roberson is recognized for is making an effort to make students feel comfortable here. We rarely, if ever, have issues. We have parents that actually request that their children come here because we don’t have these issues,” Rhoney said. “We work really hard it resolve it if an issue does come up.”
On Monday, February 22, Charlotte’s city council, with a 7-4 majority, approved measures to expand protections based on sexual identity and gender identity, allowing transgender people to use public bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, according to the Associated Press.
Opposition to the ordinance has already been voiced, including an email from Governor Pat McCrory, who stated he would work with the North Carolina General Assembly to oppose the policy on the grounds that it could create “major public safety issues.”
In November of last year, Houston, Texas voters rejected a new ordinance by 61 percent that would have expanded the ability for individuals to use bathroom and locker room facilities based on gender identity.
Issues dealing with transgender students have also shown up within school systems across the nation. At Hillsboro High School in Missouri, over 150 students organized a walkout for nearly two hours regarding a dispute over a transgender student using a changing room of the opposite gender. The student refused to use a gender-neutral dressing room that was provided for gym class, according to kmov.com news. The student eventually dropped the P.E. class.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) adopted a clarification rule in 2014 which states that “a student’s gender is denoted by what is listed on the birth certificate.”
Senior Sean Krueger, a varsity swimmer, understands the difficulties surrounding transgender students and athletics.
“I feel like it’s really the opinion of the participant, like if they want to be on the boy’s team if they really identify with that aspect,” Krueger said. “If you have a woman playing a man’s sport, it would have to be based on merit. But the other way around, it’s difficult because there is a little bit of an actual advantage.”
Other states have had issues surrounding transgender students participating in school sports. In 2014, the Minnesota Child Protection League ran a full-page ad in the Minneapolis Star Tribune against letting transgender students choose what sports team they wanted to participate on. The advertisement prompted around 10,000 emails, according to the Protection League.
Because of the presence of a variety of students at Roberson, at the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, Spanish teacher Jamie Shell held a workshop to educate teachers on ways to handle students who may identify as transgender.
“Our teachers didn’t know it was coming, but we felt like it was time that happened. I told them every single one of these students are sitting in your classrooms. They knew we had gay students and lesbian students, but to hear all the other terminology, and to know that I could give examples of students that identified as each, it was eye-opening,” Rhoney said.
Shell believes simple things such as pronouns are essential to make transgender students feel more comfortable.
“I always go around and ask people their names at the beginning of the year. It’s inclusive of both transgender and cisgender people, because some people want to be called something different,” Shell said.
Junior Katie Flanagan believes it is important to make transgender peers feel secure.
“Pronouns and name-changes are difficult. I think the biggest thing is slipping up, even if it’s just once, that will break their heart for the rest of the day. People can call me a boy, and I don’t care. But I never realized how big of a deal pronouns are in the transgender community,” Flanagan said.
Both Shell and Flanagan believe misinterpretation is due to a lack of education.
“Proper education is what is needed to change. People don’t really know what it means to be transgender. People are afraid of what they don’t know which is why education is essential,” Flanagan said.
Rhoney believes that it’s the job of the school to treat all students with respect.
“We’ve had transgender students at this school for as long as I’ve been here, and that’s been five years now. My philosophy is, ‘we’re not here to judge people, we’re here to educate people,’ and even if you don’t agree with that choice, it’s still our job to educate them as a student. And it’s also my job if there are students that don’t agree, to talk to them and say ‘you don’t have to agree, however, you have to respect them, and that is not negotiable,” Rhoney said.
Organizations like Focus on the Family and the United Kingdom-based Parakaleo offer resources for parents and others addressing the transgender movement and related issues.
Across the nation, over 200 universities have established gender neutral bathrooms in residence halls, according to the organization Campus Pride.
Here at Roberson, accommodations have been made to allow transgender students access to single-stall, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms, as well as accommodations regarding P.E. classes.
Shell personally believes schools should do more for transgender students in the future.
“A big next step is making sure students have people who support them. I think transgender ideas are something people have a hard time understanding,” Shell said.
Flanagan agrees.
“Your gender is so much more to you when you are transgender because you had to fight for it,” Flanagan said.
Each month, the Golden Fleece hosts a panel discussion on the topic at hand. Present for this discussion (in no particular order) were: Ashley Teague, Zabrina Lang, Garrett Croft, Michael Cummings, Kaleigh Fleming, and Bentley Cook.
What are your thoughts on the idea of transgender people, and the conversations that are now becoming more mainstream?
Panel Member 2: It’s difficult when you talk about the bathroom because you want to make everyone feel comfortable. I feel like we should have options for both people; we should have options for a girls-only, a guys-only, and a gender-neutral.
Panel Member 4: I feel like if you had those in schools it’s not really a good idea, because then something could happen.
Panel Member 1: Restaurant bathrooms are private, and school bathrooms are public so they have to accommodate the population of that school.
Panel Member 5: Obviously there are a lot of things that you don’t think about, like you know what you want but you don’t know all of the things that come along with it. And it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve noticed that younger kids are making that transition.
Panel Member 6: I think you should be older, more well-off. If you blow $15,000 to do that and you’re planning on going to a four-year university, you’re absolutely screwed because that costs a lot of money.
PM 2: Transitioning started happening in my grade probably around seventh grade. There are a few people who we can really see, whose transition seems real, but there are a few others where it seems like it wasn’t really thought through, and it seems like more of something to do to fit in the right friend group.
PM 3: It’s also not just a social thing, but it’s also a thing where you’re born and your brain doesn’t register with your physical gender.
PM 2: But it’s kind of odd when they transition, because you used to know them as a different name, and a lot of people feel odd about that, especially if it is called on roll as a different name. Since we don’t have set things that we follow, it makes things awkward for everybody.
PM 4: For other people, it makes them feel uncomfortable because they haven’t really been shown this, and it’s something new to them and they don’t really know how to act around it.
PM 6: The way I act personally with my friend group, we’re pretty stupid and do pretty weird things. If someone transitioned from my friend group, they would probably be out of a group of friends.
Under the current NCHSSA guidelines, you are only allowed to play on the sports team of the gender you were assigned at birth. Thoughts?
PM 3: I think they should be allowed to try out, because if they have an overly good talent for that sport, they should be able to do what they like to do. They shouldn’t be stopped just because of gender. Let’s say we have a boy that’s really good at volleyball; he shouldn’t be stopped from playing just because he’s a guy.
PM 5: I don’t know, I think it would be really awkward. I play volleyball, and knowing how we act in the locker room and stuff, that would be way too much.
Do you think the people are talking about this issue around school?
PM 5: I know a lot of times I might not say something because I don’t know someone’s religion, stuff like that, and then they come back at you.
PM 4: Some people don’t think that they can share their opinions or feelings with each other, because they don’t think they’ll be respected or they’re scared.
How does the media shape the way that people see issues like this?
PM 5: The media is crazy, I swear they brainwash people into thinking a certain way.
PM 1: They blow things out of proportion that don’t need to be blown out of proportion. And the things that do need attention, they just ignore it.
PM 3: If you’re really young and you constantly see the media, it changes the way you think. People are more and more shaped by it as they grow up.
What, if anything, are the biggest challenges transgender people are facing today?
PM 3: Bathrooms
PM 2: Not being accepted by their peers
PM 5: Questioning themselves after, like thinking ‘what if I wouldn’t have transitioned.’
PM 4: People might go home and really think about it, like if they made the right decision and if it was worth all they are going through.
How much of a role do you think the parents should play in the decision?
PM 2: When you’re under 18, they kind of need to play a role.
PM 1: They need to sign off on anything you do. But I think they need to support their child in their decision, no matter what they decide.
PM 4: I feel like you need to sit down with your kid, find out what they feel and what’s actually going on, if it’s just a phase or something they really want to do.