Tag Archives: Transgender

Normalizing Deviancy

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

Traditionally, “deviant” behavior referred to activity that was abnormal,  meaning not consistent with natural behavior of human beings. Consequently, the standard to which behavior was judged was what nature intended. Of course, the Left never accepts tradition–that would be too conservative and interfere with their goal to destroy Western civilization as we have known it. Not only do they seek to normalize deviance or the abnormal, but they want us to go along with these perversions and for us to accept them and in many cases celebrate them like for example, Gay Pride Month.

First it was homosexual behavior, which using the definition above is deviant, unnatural behavior. Natural sex is intended by nature for the procreation of the species. In the natural world, animals do not mate with members of their own sex. Seems like a simple idea, except for the Left, which of course want us to see homosexual behavior as acceptable to the point where we now have homosexual marriage. Unfortunately, this diminishes the integrity of marriage as a bond between a man and woman in order to have and raise children. Not too long ago, homosexual behavior was considered a form of mental illness deserving treatment.

Now the Left is pushing the acceptance of transgenderism as a free choice, non-deviant activity and not as a form of mental illness that needs treatment. In fact, treatment professionals who advocate and practice reversing gender dysphoria and encouraging maintaining one’s gender at birth are often penalized and ostracized by their leftist colleagues. This in spite of the clear evidence that transgender persons are much more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression and are twenty times more likely to commit suicide than the regular population. In places like California, parents who refuse to go along with trans-gendering their children are subject to being charged with child abuse.

The latest effort by the Left to normalized deviancy is occurring in respect to adults having sex with children. As a clinical psychologist, employed by the N.C. Department of Correction I had the opportunity to evaluate many sex offenders who were pedophiles. Most of them saw nothing wrong in what they had done. The Left now wants us to stop using the term pedophile with its deserved negative connotations and start using their term: Minor Attracted Person or MAP in their attempt to de-stigmatize sex with children. Obviously, they want the rest of us to accept pedophilia as just another of the many choices a person can make and not a deviancy.

We need to recognize that all deviant groups use “grooming” to prepare their victims to accept and participate in their perversions. Transgender story hours in libraries, liberal sex education in schools, social media, and allowing deviants in leadership positions are all part of the process of getting us to go along with this effort to undermine key elements of our Judeo/Christian heritage. The Left wants us to accept the principle that each person decides for themselves what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior–not society’s standards of behavior.

No society has long existed without clear standards and rules for conduct. We cannot allow the Left to impose their non-standards on America. The fate of our children and grandchildren are at stake. We must not accept the Left’s efforts to normalize deviancy.

Protecting Our Children

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On Tuesday, Townhall reported the following:

On Saturday, a federal appeals panel said a Tennessee law restricting irreversible, experimental transgender care for children could be enforced. 

The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio granted an emergency appeal from Tennessee to allow the legislation to go into effect. Previously, a judge struck blocked components of the law, which Townhall covered.

“The case is far from over, but this is a big win,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “The court of appeals lifted the injunction, meaning the law can be fully enforced, and recognized that Tennessee is likely to win the constitutional argument and the case.”

Reportedly, the ruling is preliminary and will be in effect until the appeals court conducts a full review of the appeal. The case should be resolved by Sept. 30.

Gender reassignment therapy is a money-maker for the medical industry. A person who changes their gender as a young person will be on medication for the rest of their life to maintain that change. There will also be medical complications from that change.

In June 2015, PBS reported:

The physical changes that hormones bring about are irreversible, making the decision more weighty than taking puberty blockers. Some of the known side effects of hormones include things that might sound familiar: acne and changes in mood. Patients are also warned that they may be at higher risk for heart disease or diabetes later in life. The risk of blood clots increases for those who start estrogen. And the risk for cancer is an unknown, but it is included in the warnings doctors give their patients.

Another potential dilemma facing transgender children, their families and their doctors is this: Taking cross hormones can reduce fertility. And there isn’t enough research to find out of it is reversible or not. So when children make the decision to start taking hormones, they have to consider whether they ever want to have biological children.

These are not decisions young teenagers are equipped to make. The drugs and medical procedures need to be postponed until a person is mature enough to comprehend the risks of what they are doing.

A Good Law That Needs To Pass The North Carolina Senate

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On Monday, The Carolina Journal reported that the North Carolina House of Representatives pass HB 808.

The summary of the bill states:

BILL ANALYSIS: The bill would prohibit healthcare practitioners from providing or referring out surgical gender transition procedures to minors.

“Surgical gender transition procedure” would be defined to mean any surgical service that (i) alters or removes physical or anatomical characteristics typical for an individual’s biological sex or (ii) instills or creates physiological or anatomical characteristics that resemble a sex different from an individual’s biological sex if those services are provided to effectuate a gender transition.

“Gender transition” would be defined as the process in which a person goes from identifying with and living as a gender that corresponds to his or her biological sex to identifying with and living as a gender different from his or her biological sex.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be anything in this bill that prevents non-surgical gender transition treatment.

It really is time to get off of this bandwagon. Transition is a trend that is doing serious damage to our children, our families, and our social fabric. Gender dysphoria is a mental illness and should be treated as such. A teenager going through the ravages of puberty will not be any happier going through puberty as the opposite sex. If a person over the age of eighteen (actually, since you can’t drink or smoke until you are 21, shouldn’t you have to wait until 21 to mutilate your body?) wants to undergo a sex change, okay, but they should understand the long-term ramifications before they do. We have all heard the stories of the thirty-year olds who transitioned when they were 18 and now regret it. Those stories need to be shared more often in order to let teenagers know that transitioning is serious and generally is forever.

Whose Children Are They?

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My heart goes out to parents trying to raise children in today’s culture. Back in the age of dinosaurs when I was a teenager, it was much simpler. There were gay children then, but transgender was not yet on the radar. I will also admit that there was bullying although not to the degree that it seems to happen now. Also, we are more aware of it now because of the media, so there may or may not be an increase. At any rate, when you walked through your front door, the bullying ended–there were no cell phones, chat rooms, etc. Basically for many of us in the 60’s, it was a live and let-live culture. Our parents were in charge and guided us according to their beliefs, and generally speaking, we accepted their guidance. The government was not involved unless there was actual child abuse going on. My, how things have changed.

On Thursday, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

Legislators in California are considering a bill that would allow state officials to separate children from their families without letting the parents know until after the fact.

Government authorities could do this for children who struggle with gender identity problems but whose parents are not being “ affirming ” of their new identification as the opposite sex, or as nonbinary, gender fluid, pansexual, or one of the other made-up genders or sexual orientations.

Not allowing your child to permanently mutilate his or her body is not abuse and should not be subject to government oversight. Parents have the right to discourage their children from taking drastic chemical and surgical measures to change their biological sex. Parents have the right and responsibility to seek psychiatric help for children suffering from gender dysphoria. The state should have no role to play in these situations.

The article concludes:

So then the fair question is, why does he want parents cut out of the picture? Children who are the victims of abuse can already access regular anxiety or depression counseling.

This is clearly about making sure children confused about their gender can be transitioned and affirmed in their delusions without their parents’ knowledge. In fact, it sounds similar to the plans by a Virginia LGBT group called the Pride Liberation Project to help gay youth get a new home with gay couples if their parents are not on board with their same-sex attraction and choices.

Children who are legitimate victims of abuse already have avenues to report their parents and seek real counseling and assistance. This bill severs the important ties between parents and children and aims to impose Wiener’s value system onto all families instead of letting the actual parents make the best moral and legal decisions to help their children.

Keep you hands off of our children!

Why I Am Grateful For America’s First Amendment

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On Sunday, Breitbart reported that Greek footballer Vassilis Tsiartas has been given a 10-month suspended prison sentence over comments critical of child sex changes.

The article reports:

Tsiartas, who played a key role in the Greek national team’s shock victory in the UEFA European Football Championship in 2004 and finished his career without receiving a single red card, was prosecuted under a supposed anti-racism law which, somewhat perversely, includes provisions against public incitement to violence or hatred on the basis of gender identity.

Evidently America is not the only country the transgender activists have been targeting.

The article continues:

In Tsiartas’s case, brought to the courts by the Transgender Support Association (SYD), the supposed incitement took the form of a Facebook post from 2017, in which the athlete remarked that he “hope[d] the first sex changes are carried out on the children of those who ratified this abomination” in reference to new legislation on gender identity, Greek media reports.

…Tsiartas, for his part, has vowed to appeal the decision.

In August, Breitbart reported:

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH) new guidance lowers the recommended age for cross-sex hormones from 16 to 14 years, according to a guidance draft obtained by The Post Millennial this week. The age for double mastectomies, the removal of breasts, has been lowered to 15. Sixteen-year-old boys may seek breast augmentations, facial surgeries and tracheal shaves to reduce the appearance of an Adam’s apple.

Does anyone actually believe that a 15-year old has the emotional and mental maturity to make such a life-changing decision? Being a teenager is difficult enough without the current peer pressure from social media affirming the idea of being transgender.

In December 2017, PsyPost reported the following:

The National Post recently covered the CBC’s cancellation of a BBC documentary about transgender children (Why CBC cancelled a BBC documentary that activists claimed was ‘transphobic’).  In that coverage, the Post shared claims made by some activists criticizing some scientific studies, but did not apparently fact-check those claims, so I thought I would outline the studies here.  For reference, in a previous post, I listed the results of every study that ever followed up transgender kids to see how they felt in adulthood (Do trans- kids stay trans- when they grow up?).  There are 12 such studies in all, and they all came to the very same conclusion: The majority of kids cease to feel transgender when they get older.

So what happens to the children who have had permanent life-altering surgery as teenagers when they want to detransition? I really think we need to rethink this entire transgender thing. Gender dysphoria is a mental illness. We need to treat the mental illness rather than do surgery that confirms it.

 

 

 

Retribution For Speaking Out

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On Wednesday, Red State posted an article about a father who complained about a male in his high school daughter’s locker room.

The article reports:

Remember earlier this month when the news broke about a Vermont high school allowing a biologically male student to use the girl’s locker room? Well, there has been a new and disturbing development in this saga. A father who works at the school was suspended for speaking out against the policy after his daughter was made uncomfortable by the male student.

The situation began when the Daily Signal reported that two girls who are members of the Randolph High School’s volleyball team asked the boy, who identifies as a girl, to leave the locker room after he made an inappropriate comment. The school responded by essentially banning girls from the girl’s locker room to cater to the male student’s delusion about his gender identity as it launched an investigation into the matter.

But they were not investigating the conflict. Instead, they are “launching a harassment investigation” into the girls who complained rather than the 14-year-old boy who chose to use their locker room. The Daily Signal spoke with parents whose children attend the school. Predictably, they were outraged that the school would prioritize the biological male over their daughters.

“We allowed a child who is biologically the opposite sex, male, go in a locker room where biologically girls were getting fully changed,” one of the girls’ mothers said. “The biological child was not changing and sat in the back and watched girls getting changed. That made girls feel uncomfortable, made girls feel violated and not protected.”

“When parents and kids went to the school principals they were told it was a law—nothing they could do about it,” she continued. “The law gives them room to protect all and they did not.”

The article continues:

But now, the school is taking further action to defend this practice. The Daily Signal reported that Travis Allen, who coaches girl’s soccer at Randolph Union Middle School, was suspended for speaking out about the matter:

Travis Allen has been suspended without pay from his job as the Randolph Union Middle School girls soccer coach, Orange Southwest School District Superintendent Layne Millington said in a Tuesday letter. His suspension follows a Daily Signal report highlighting his daughter’s discomfort at a biological male using her locker room while she was changing.

The superintendent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Signal, said that Allen was being punished because he “misgendered a transgender student in our district.”

Biological males do not belong in a high school girls’ locker room–particularly when they are just sitting there watching and not changing! Every parent of a daughter needs to speak up about this. Schools may have to create separate spaces for transgender students, but that is a small price to pay for protecting our daughters.

Guard Your Parents’ Rights

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On Friday, NewsMax reported that Democrat Virginia Delegate Elizabeth Guzman has proposed a bill that would add parents who refuse to affirm their child’s gender identity or sexual orientation to the state’s definition of child abuse and neglect. What is the world? Frankly, I think that any parent who allows their under-eighteen child to undergo any medical treatment that delays puberty or any surgical procedure that will have permanent consequences should be charged with child abuse.

The article reports:

“If the child shares with those mandated reporters, what they are going through, we are talking about not only physical abuse or mental abuse, what the job of that mandated reporter is to inform Child Protective Services,” Guzman said. “And then that’s how everybody gets involved.

“There’s also an investigation in place that is not only from a social worker but there’s also a police investigation before we make the decision that there is going to be a CPS charge.”

When asked what consequences parents could face, Guzman said, “Well, we first have to complete an investigation. It could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor, but we know that CPS charge could harm your employment, could harm their education, because nowadays many people do a CPS database search before offering employment.”

She also denied potential accusations that the legislation “is criminalizing parents,” saying, “No, it’s not. It’s educating parents because the law tells you the do’s and don’ts. So this law is telling you do not abuse your children because they are LGBTQ.”

I guess this comes down to the definition of abuse. If my child comes to me and tells me that she is a cat and I refuse to provide a litter box, is that abuse? Wouldn’t it be better to provide psychiatric counseling?

Ms. Guzman concludes:

“You know, we all have a commitment to God and for those believers out there, we know that there’s life after life, and there is going to be a conversation between that person and God and that’s what we’re after — to go by what the Bible says. It is not my job to judge anyone. It is my job to help people.”

The Bible calls us to love one another, but it also has some pretty harsh words for some of the practices Ms. Guzman is trying to protect. If you are going to use the Bible as a justification for what you are doing, you might want to read the entire book.

UPDATE:

On Saturday, The Epoch Times reported:

A Democrat Virginia state delegate has backed down from introducing a bill to expand the definition of child abuse to include inflicting “physical or mental injury” on children due to their gender identity or sexual orientation.

…On the same day, Virginia House Minority Leader Don Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) said that he spoke to Guzman, and she had assured him that she wouldn’t introduce the reported bill. In addition, he called the bill “unnecessary” and “a distraction” to key Congressional races in Virginia.

Stacy Langton, a Fairfax County mother of six and a Republican, has been fighting to remove obscene books in the county school libraries. She told The Epoch Times, “I would like to take this moment to thank Delegate Guzman for committing the Terry McAuliffe gaffe for the 2022 midterm elections.”

When you shine sunlight on some of the radical ideas of the Democrats, they tend to back down. We need to keep doing that.

What Parents’ Rights?

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On Sunday, Just the News posted an article about a law Governor Newsom of California signed on Thursday.

The article reports:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Thursday allowing California to take “temporary emergency jurisdiction” over a child that traveled to the state for transgender drugs or operations, stripping parents of their authority over their kids.

“States across the country are passing laws to demonize the transgender community, especially transgender youth and their parents,” Newsom wrote to the California State Senate upon signing the bill, adding that “82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves, and 40% have attempted suicide, with suicidality highest among transgender youth. This is unacceptable – we must fight for our youth and their parents.”

The law has been a major source of controversy. Parental rights groups around the country raised the alarm about then-bill SB 107, arguing it violates the Constitution by wrongly claiming jurisdiction over families from other states.

This is totally insane. The statistics the Governor cites regarding suicide are related to the mental problems these children are having–thinking they are trans and wanted to surgically altar their bodies is part of mental illness. Children who believe they are trans should be strongly encouraged to hold off on any permanent body changes until they are over 25. Science tells us that their brains are not developed enough to make that decision before the age of 25.

The article concludes:

“SB 107 makes California akin to the Pied Piper, enticing minor children nationwide to leave their families and run away in pursuit of harmful drugs and sterilizing surgeries, all of which cause irreversible harm to the minds, bodies, and family relationships of America’s precious children,” the letter said. “According to the American College of Pediatricians, 80 to 95 percent of children who experience gender confusion will ultimately embrace their biological sex if they are not encouraged to pursue gender identity treatments. Children experiencing gender confusion need the love, support, and guidance of their parents.”

Newsom, though, signed the legislation, which passed along party lines and will take effect at the beginning of the year.

“With the signing of this bill, California will ensure these kids and their families can seek and obtain the medical and mental health care they need,” Newsom said.

This is not the medical and mental health care they need! First of all, children who believe they are trans need to be taken off of social media where it is ‘cool’ to be trans. Then, objective mental health professionals need to spend time with them helping them sort out the reasons they are feeling this way. At one point, a therapist who was dealing with a young boy who wanted to be a girl learned that the boy had a younger sister who was handicapped and the boy simply wanted his parents to pay as much attention to him as they did to his sister. It would have been a horrible mistake to encourage that child to undergo medical procedures that would forever alter his life.

He Said What?!

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On Thursday, The Washington Times posted an article about a recent statement by Dr. Bhavik Kumar, medical director for primary and trans care at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. At a House committee hearing on abortion restrictions, “Examining the Harm to Patients from Abortion Restrictions and the Threat of a National Abortion Ban,” the Doctor was asked if men could become pregnant.

The article reports:

Dr. Bhavik Kumar, medical director for primary and trans care at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, replied in the affirmative after being asked by Rep. Andrew Clyde, Georgia Republican, if men could become pregnant.

“So men can have pregnancies, especially trans men,” Dr. Kumar told the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

The doctor did not elaborate on which cisgender men could become pregnant or how.

Mr. Clyde sought clarification, asking, “So are you saying that a biological female who identifies as a man and therefore becomes pregnant is, quote, a man? Is that what you’re saying?”

Dr. Kumar pushed back, telling him such questions are “really missing the point” at a hearing about abortion, before affirming his response.

“Somebody with a uterus may have the capability of becoming pregnant, whether they’re a woman or a man,” Dr. Kumar said.

Mr. Clyde was unpersuaded. “OK, we’re done. We’re done. This isn’t complicated. Let me tell you, if a person has a uterus and is born female, they are a woman,” he said.

Democrats have struggled with how to define men and women as the transgender rights movement seeks to redefine gender based on self-identification, leading to memorable comments at hearings such as then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson declaring in March that “I’m not a biologist.”

Mr. Clyde, an Iraq and Kuwait combat veteran who owns a firearms business, proceeded to give a biology lesson to Dr. Kumar, a board-certified family medicine physician.

“That is not a man, and the vast majority of the world considers that to be a woman because there are biological differences between men and women,” Mr. Clyde said. “I mean, clearly, any high school biology class teaches that men and women have different chromosomes. Females are XX chromosome and males are XY chromosome. I can’t believe it’s necessary to say this, but men cannot get pregnant and cannot give birth regardless of how they identify themselves.”

Why does an abortion organization need a medical director for primary and trans care? Has planned parenthood branched out?

The party that constantly yells ‘follow the science’ needs to read a basic biology textbook.

 

Good Things Are Happening In Virginia

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Elections have consequences. Virginia is one of the most recent examples of that fact.

On Saturday, The Epoch Times reported the following:

Virginia took a sharp turn on transgender student policies with new guidelines released on Sept. 16.

According to the new guidelines, public schools cannot affirm a student’s gender without parents’ written requests. In addition, bathroom and locker room use is to be based on students’ sex, defined as the biological sex at birth. Student sports participation should be sex-based as well unless federal laws require otherwise.

The new policies are is a complete reversal of the previous guidelines, which define transgender as a student’s “self-identifying term.” Those rules, which took effect in March 2021 under former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, ask schools to consider not disclosing a student’s gender identity to the parents “if a student is not ready or able to safely share” it with their family.

The new policies have common ground with the previous rules with regard to ensuring a safe learning environment without bullying, discrimination, or harassment for students. It lists the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution as primary evidence.

The new guidelines will enter a 30-day public comment period around Sept. 26 and take effect after the state superintendent approves the final version.

The Democrat response was predictable:

Virginia Del. Marcus Simon (D-Fairfax), who introduced the state House bill that became a 2020 law and the basis of the 2021 rules, said in a tweet on Sept. 16: “These new policies are cruel and not at all evidence-based. … If enacted, these policies will harm Virginia children. Stop bullying kids to score political points.”

Was it harmful to Virginia children when young girls were sexually assaulted in the restrooms at their schools?

The article concludes:

Clint Thomas, a father to Loudoun County schoolchildren, echoed Fight for Schools’ sentiment. He has two daughters, both studying in Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). Caroline, the elder daughter, is a high school senior and was on the school’s soccer team.

He’s also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against LCPS administrators and school board members, filed by America First Legal (AFL), a nonprofit conservative legal group, on his and 10 other parents’ behalf. At the end of June, the defendants were sued for “promoting secret gender transitions” and “forcing children to change in locker rooms with members of the opposite sex,” according to AFL.

“Virginia is returning to a focus on parents’ rights in education with its 2022 revision to model policies,” Thomas told The Epoch Times. “It feels so good as a father of children in LCPS to know our state Department of Education is returning to sanity when it comes to the basic rights of girls and women in our schools and athletic competitions.”

It’s unclear whether school districts will face budgetary consequences if they don’t follow the requirements. Porter didn’t respond to a question by The Epoch Times about the potential ramifications of noncompliance.

When ordinary citizens get involved, good things happen.

How To End The Tyranny Of The Woke In Our Schools

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Since the U.S. Department of Education was created, academic scores in America have gone down. Somehow our children and grandchildren are not learning reading, writing, and arithmetic any more. It’s more important to have them use the right pronoun than for them to know what a pronoun is. On Sunday, The Western Journal posted an article that might give us a clue to solving this problem. The article tells the story of a woke Illinois middle school teacher talking in a video about lying to parents about their children.

The article reports:

In her self-congratulatory video, the smug leftist went on and on about how she purposefully excludes parents from being informed when students claim to be “transgender.”

Constantly grinning from ear to ear, the teacher told her social media audience, “I respect their name and their pronouns, and I use them in class, but because their parents don’t know — I even say this to the students — I say, ‘I’m gonna have to use your legal name and pronouns when addressing your parents, okay?’ And this usually, again, strengthens the bond, the trust bond between me and the kid.”

Before we go on, note that last bit about “strengthening the bond” between her and the kids. This is evidence that she is purposefully driving a wedge between parents and kids and attempting to eliminate parental influence in education.

The article includes a possible solution to teachers that are doing this in the classroom:

At the end of her video, though, this woke teacher did say something that just might give sane people some hope.

The teacher glumly noted that one of her leaders said, “Hey, there might be a law that comes down that says eventually you could get sued for doing that.”

And on a note that might make the parents of her students cheer with delight, the teacher concluded saying that if such a law is ever passed, “Well, that will be the day that I exit teaching.”

The sooner the better, I’d say.

Still, this is the perfect path toward eliminating this garbage. Sue them. Sue them. And sue them again until this dangerous behavior by woke teachers ends, and teachers like this one begin to “exit teaching.”

Once precedents are set that affirm teachers have no right to eliminate parents from education, the better it will be for the nation’s children who will finally be able to get back to learning instead of being subjected to left-wing indoctrination.

This teacher did reveal the rot infesting our public schools. But she also helped us see a way toward surgically removing it.

Parents need to reclaim their rights as parents.

Is Anyone Okay With This?

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On Friday, The Daily Wire posted an article about an 80-year-old woman who is no longer allowed at her local YMCA.

The article reports:

Julie Jaman, 80, had been swimming at the Mountain View pool, a Port Townsend facility, for 35 years, but on July 26, the Y’s aquatics manager, Rowen DeLuna, allegedly informed her that some children needed the lane she was swimming in.

Jaman said she headed to the women’s showers, where she soaped up before hearing a man’s voice, then turned to see a biological male named Clementine Adams, allegedly an employee at the pool, “looking at the little girls as they were taking off their suits,” the Port Townsend Free Press reported.

The Daily Wire reached out to the Mountain View pool for comment.

“There were gaps in the curtain and there I was, naked, with soap and water on me, and this guy, right there very close to me,” Jaman said. “I asked, ‘Do you have a penis?’ He said, ‘That’s none of your business.’ That’s when I told him, ‘Get out of here, right now.’”

Jaman said she turned to DeLuna, who was outside the shower stall, and said, “Get him out of here,” but DeLuna responded, “You’re discriminating and you can’t use the pool anymore and I’m calling the police.”

Jaman claimed that when she got dressed and tried to leave the building, a YMCA staff member told her she could not leave, echoed by DeLuna, prompting Jaman to respond, “Bull****! I’m going to the police right now. I want help and I need it immediately.”

Jaman said Wendy Bart, the CEO of the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, spoke to her later that day, and told her that she was banned from the pool, and said a staff member told her that Jaman said to Adams, “You’re going to stick your f***ing penis in those little girls.” Jaman, the mother of two adult daughters, said she reacted, “I am an 80 year-old woman and I do not talk like that.”

The article concludes:

She (Julie Jaman) concluded, “The YMCA, the city, the police and sheriffs, the parents, the professionals who assist victims of voyeurism, peeping Toms, pedophilia and assault need to come together figure too out how to make the new policies work for all pool patrons, not just one group. How to keep children, who are less able to discriminate, safe. It is ironic that women who discriminate when a situation threatens their safety or their children — a message from our ancestors — are now accused of discrimination as if they have made someone else a victim.”

I know that there is some expense involved, but separate facilities need to be made available for the transgender population. Most YMCA’s do have family dressing rooms or individual dressing rooms that could be made available. Recently a transgender woman prisoner impregnated two female prisoners in a New Jersey prison (article here). I realize that the majority of transgender people do not pose a threat, but some do. Are you willing to put little girls in danger just to be woke?

What Are We Teaching Our Children?

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On Sunday, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about an event held Friday in a Texas gay bar. The event was called Drag the Kids to Pride. Follow the link at your own risk. You have been warned. The article includes two short videos of events at the bar. The activities involved are in no way suitable for the young children in attendance.

The article concludes:

One cannot imagine how parents can expose their young children to such nonsense. In general, children should be pulled out of the inept and failing public schools, which have now added perverse indoctrination to their other sins. But when parents go out of their way to inflict perversity on their kids, one can only despair.

I have no problem with teaching older children to be respectful of people who have an alternative lifestyle (yes, homosexuality is an alternative lifestyle) or to be respectful of their peers who struggle with gender dysphoria. However, these are lifestyles that are not mainstream and should not be encouraged to become mainstream. Before the growth of social media, gender dysphoria was very rare and generally young children outgrew it without any treatment. Unfortunately, social media has created an image of transgender as ‘cool’ and many teenagers having trouble adjusting to puberty are being caught up in the social pressure. This is a problem that will not in any way be helped by taking young children to a Drag the Kids to Pride event.

 

Have You Read “Johnny The Walrus”?

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On Thursday, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about a book by Matt Walsh titled, “Johnny the Walrus.”

The article reports:

Matt Walsh has written a book for children called Johnny the Walrus. It satirizes the current transgender craze, which has resulted in an epidemic of irreversible child abuse:

Johnny is a little boy with a big imagination. One day he pretends to be a big scary dinosaur, the next day he’s a knight in shining armor or a playful puppy. But when the internet people find out Johnny likes to make-believe, he’s forced to make a decision between the little boy he is and the things he pretends to be — and he’s not allowed to change his mind.

To the horror of the libs who work at Amazon, Walsh’s book is selling like hotcakes on that platform. Someone leaked a zoom call on which Amazon employees wring their hands over what to do about Johnny the Walrus. I should note that the statements about the book made by the anonymous caller are entirely false. In typical liberal fashion, she just made them up. The people on the call would know they were false if they took the trouble to read Johnny the Walrus, a kids’ board book, which probably would have taken two minutes or less. But of course they didn’t bother. Ideology is everything.

The article includes screenshots of Amazon therapy session for trauma from Matt Walsh’s books. Evidently the thought of anyone writing an allegorical story about the damage that is being done to our children is upsetting to those who support doing the damage. Please follow the link above to read the entire article and view the screenshots.The book is not currently available on Amazon.

The Price For Telling The Truth

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On Sunday, The Daily Wire posted an article about Kathleen Cataford, 77, a school nurse in Connecticut who was suspended after she revealed on Facebook that an 11-year-old student at her school was on puberty blockers and that other students identified as non-binary without their parents being informed.

The article reports:

Kathleen Cataford, 77, was suspended from Hartford Public Schools after she posted the comments on Facebook, the Daily Mail reported. Cataford’s comments were labeled “transphobic” after she posted to a local mother’s group when someone asked for local school recommendations, saying parents should “Investigate the school system curriculum…CT is a very socially liberal, gender confused state.”

“As a public school nurse, I have an 11yo female student on puberty blockers and a dozen identifying as non-binary, all but two keeping this as a secret from their parents with the help of teachers, SSW [social workers] and school administration,” Cataford continued, according to the Mail. “Teachers and SSW are spending 37.5 hours a week influencing our children, not necessarily teaching our children what YOU think is being taught.”

Although I question the use of Facebook to reveal this, it may have been her only option. I seriously doubt her local newspaper would have touched it. I do think it was a good idea to share it in a local mothers’ group where people would have the opportunity to act on this knowledge. I would be furious if my child’s school kept information about my child’s choice of gender from me. Gender dysphoria used to be considered a mental illness that was to be watched and treated if necessary. Many children go through a period of this and then grow out of it. They don’t need to be encouraged to stay there.

The article notes:

Hartford School District officials were made aware of the post after the mother of the 11-year-old reportedly on puberty blockers saw it and reported it, the Mail reported. The family of the student, who have not been identified in media reports, told WSFB that “As a family we are very happy with how thoroughly and quickly the school and the district has taken action to both ensure the nurse is fully investigated and ensure the safety and privacy of our child. They could not have done a better job.”

Hartford Public Schools superintendent Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez released a statement regarding Cataford’s remarks, without naming her.

The nurse did not reveal the identity of the child–all she did was to alert parents as to what was going on in their children’s school.

The article concludes:

“Hartford Public Schools strives to provide an inclusive environment where all students feel seen, valued, respected, and heard,” Torres-Rodriguez said in the statement. “We uphold all of our staff to a high standard, entrusting them to be caretakers and leaders in the community. We as a school district are responsible for the health, well-being, social and emotional development, and safety of ALL of the children entrusted to our care. It is our responsibility to support our students’ growth, personal experiences, and social-emotional development.”

“We take this matter, and any incident that impacts our students’ well-being, very seriously. Ensuring our schools are a safe place for students, staff and visitors is our highest priority. Therefore, we took immediate action to remove this individual from our schools while we investigate,” Torres-Rodriguez added. “While at times the most hateful rhetoric is the loudest it certainly doesn’t reflect the care, commitment, and acceptance that the vast majority of our teachers and staff practice every day.”

It is scary that a school would promote something that is a mental illness. They are not creating a safe environment. They are creating an environment where children too young to make life-altering decisions are deciding things that may leave them physically unable to mature fully physically or to have children.

Celebrating Child Abuse

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On Friday, President Biden gave a speech recognizing the “International Transgender Day of Visibility.” In that speech he claimed that would protect transgender people from numerous “dangerous attacks.” Just for the record, I looked up how many transgender people were murdered in 2021, as of November, the number was 45, the largest number ever (article here). Then I looked up how many people were murdered in Chicago in 2021, that number was 797 (article here). I don’t want to see anyone murdered, but it seems to me that we have a bigger problem than violence against transgenders–we have a problem with violence in general.

On Friday, CBN News posted an article about President Biden’s speech.

The article at CBN pointed out some obvious facts:

“Transgender Americans continue to face discrimination, harassment, and barriers to opportunity,” Biden said in a proclamation. “In the past year, hundreds of anti-transgender bills in States were proposed across America, most of them targeting transgender kids. The onslaught has continued this year. These bills are wrong.”

The president is referring to bills passed in multiple states that defend parental rights, protect the rights of female athletes, and protect children from irreversible “sex-change” surgeries and puberty-blockers.

Oklahoma and Arizona’s governors signed laws on Wednesday to prevent transgender athletes from dominating girls’ sports, joining more than a dozen other states with similar laws.

Preventing biological males from competing in women’s sports is not discrimination–it is common sense. It is giving women in sports a chance to compete on an even playing field.

The article at CBN News also notes:

The Christian Employers Alliance filed suit in federal court last fall, challenging two Biden administration mandates that force religious nonprofit and for-profit employers to pay for or perform gender transition surgeries, procedures, counseling, and treatments in violation of their religious beliefs

“Many religious employers – including the Christian Employers Alliance and all of its members – hold sincere beliefs that gender transition surgeries and procedures are morally wrong and contradict their beliefs that God purposefully created humans as either a biological male or female and that a person’s biological sex is immutable,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Bowman. 

The speech also voiced support for transgender children. It is unclear whether the White House will take measures to allow transgender surgery on children without their parents’ consent. I suspect that will be proposed at some point in the not-so-distant future.

This speech was a shiny object to distract us from the multiple failures of the Biden administration. As inflation eats away at our income, as we deplete our strategic energy reserves, as we get involved in an overseas military adventure we cannot afford, and as we watch our economy flounder, the celebration of the transgender movement will energize the left wing of the Democrat party and disgust most Americans who believe in basic science.

What Are We Doing To Our Children?

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On Friday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article about a twelve-year-old girl in Florida who tried to commit suicide twice. Suicide among teenagers is a problem that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus lockdowns, but the problems that drove this child to try to take her life had nothing to do with the coronavirus or the lockdowns.

The article reports:

The parents of a 12-year-old Florida girl who tried to hang herself twice at her school after ‘months of secret meetings about her gender identity’ are slamming the district staff who allegedly went behind their backs and ‘created a double life’ for their daughter.

Wendell Perez, and his wife Maria Perez, allege the staff at at Paterson Elementary School – where their daughter was enrolled – violated their parental rights by failing to inform them of the alleged gender identity crisis and developing a plan to help her address it without their consent. 

‘We’re talking about the staff from school this information and developing a plan of several sessions with my daughter, for months, talking about issues that are related and that the parents need to be involved,’ Wendell Perez told DailyMail.com on Thursday. ‘They basically created a double life for my daughter.’

…The complaint alleges that school counselor Destiney Washington held secret weekly meetings with Wendell Perez’s daughter about her alleged ‘gender identity crisis’ but neglected to alert her parents. It also claims school leaders encouraged other students and staff to refer to the young girl as a boy and even gave her a new name. 

It remains unclear why the 12-year-old was seeing the counselor or how the gender identity meetings come of fruition. 

The article concludes:

There is currently active legislation in the state of Florida, addressing concerns similar to that of the Perez family.

House Bill 1557, also known as the Parental Rights in Education bill, would require school boards to notify parents about specific information regarding a child’s emotional, physical and mental well-being. It would also limit classroom conversation on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Critics, calling it the Don’t Say Gay bill, claim it also encourages parents to sue schools or teachers that engage in discussions about these topics with students. 

‘We call it the ‘don’t say gay’ bill because it will essentially erase conversations in our classrooms about LGBTQ students, families, and history,’ State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith told the TV station.

‘Many LGBTQ people don’t have supportive homes. They don’t have supportive parents. Oftentimes their teachers and their school environment is the only form of support they have and we cannot take that away.’

Boyles is reportedly a proponent of the bill, which is currently in the House Judiciary Committee.

There is a trend in some of our schools now to try to usurp the rights of parents. Parents have the right to raise their children–to know what is happening in sensitive areas such as gender confusion. The teachers and administrators involved in this need to be charged with child abuse and never allowed to work with children again.

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This Is All Very Confusing

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On Sunday, Hot Air reported that Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania swim team, recently lost the 100-meter freestyle race to another transgender swimmer. Okay, fair is fair. That seems logical. However the story gets a little weird after that.

The article quotes an Outkick article:

Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, who had been crushing her competition since joining the women’s swim team after three years swimming as a biological male, met her match Saturday in the 100-meter freestyle during a tri-meet with Yale and Dartmouth.

Thomas won the 200-meter and 500-meter races at Penn’s final home meet of the season, but she finished sixth in the 100-meter where Yale’s Iszac Henig, a transgender swimmer who is in the process of transitioning from female to male, crushed Thomas. Henig finished the 100 in 49.57 while Thomas touched the wall in 52.84.

“I wasn’t prepared for that. Everything is messed up. I can’t wrap my head around this. The NCAA needs to do something about this. They need to put science into the decision and discussion,” a Penn swim parent told The Daily Mail.

The article at Hot Air concludes:

Not all of the irony has been removed from the story, however. What this really means is that trans swimmer Thomas was beaten by an actual woman, so how well would Thomas do against the guys? This is a subject we touched on when the story first emerged last month. Thomas may be setting records for the University of Pennsylvania and for these specific meets, but all of the times posted thus far are still slower than the current NCAA women’s division records for those events. And they are laughably far behind the men’s division records. And now, even with the distinct biological advantage that Thomas enjoys, the swimmer has been defeated in multiple events by an actual female.

That doesn’t remove all of the injustice from the situation, of course. There are still plenty of other legitimate female college athletes who are being bumped down the charts. As the linked article indicates, one parent of a female Penn swimmer was once again calling for the NCAA to “put science into the decision and discussion.” We already saw one collegiate swimming official end her career in protest over what’s been going on. Sadly, the NCAA has clearly drunk deeply from the new chalice of wokeness and they aren’t likely to voluntarily embark on a return to sanity any time soon.

This makes my head hurt.

 

 

What I Never Thought I Would See

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On Monday The Federalist posted a list of thirteen things that have happened that they would not have believed five years ago.

Here is the list. Please follow the link to the article to read the details:

1. Men As Women

2. Blocking Puberty

3. Drafting Women

5. Massive Illegal Immigration

6. Widespread Censorship

7. Parents Labeled Terrorists

8. President’s Mental Abilities Doubted

9. Asking Athletes for Advice

10. Record Debt and Inflation

11. Covid Restrictions Continue and Some Increase

12. Major Scientific Advances Not Celebrated

13. Losing Our Lead

Please follow the link above to read the details. We are obviously not in a good place.

Sad, But Not Surprising

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The transgender movement is a direct threat to women’s sports. A transgender woman can compete and win in women’s sports. A woman who transitions to a man will generally not do well in men’s sports. This is illustrated in a article posted yesterday at PJ Media.

The article reports:

Will Thomas was a moderately successful swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swim team for three years. But then he took a year off, reemerged as transgender, and started dominating the women’s swim team.

“One of my big concerns for trans people is feeling alone,” he told Penn Today. “Even if you don’t pay attention to the news … [about] states proposing and passing vicious anti-trans legislation, it can feel very lonely and overwhelming.”

“The process of coming out as being trans and continuing to swim was a lot of uncertainty and unknown around an area that’s usually really solid. Realizing I was trans threw that into question. Was I going to keep swimming? What did that look like?”

He added, “Being trans has not affected my ability to do this sport and being able to continue is very rewarding.”

It may not have affected his ability to do his sport, but as a transgender he is competing against women who generally do not have the upper body strength that men do. He is competing in an unequal playing field where he has an unfair advantage. How many women will lose college scholarships in swimming to a transgender women?

A New Level Of Insanity

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On Thursday, the NC Family Policy Council website reported the following:

Lambda Legal, a national LGBTQ activist organization, is suing the State of North Carolina over what it characterizes as a “discriminatory policy” relating to birth certificates. Consistent with biology, history, and longstanding policy, current state law requires birth certificates in North Carolina to identify a child as either “male” or “female.” In 1975, the state modified the law to allow an individual to change the sex designation on his or her birth certificate if they file a written request with the State Registrar and provide a notarized statement from a licensed physician that they have undergone sex reassignment surgery.

In its complaint, Lambda Legal asks the federal district court to throw out the 1975 accommodation as unconstitutional, and simply allow transgender identifying persons to change the sex designations on their birth certificates upon request.

…In its complaint, Lambda Legal asks the federal district court to throw out the 1975 accommodation as unconstitutional, and simply allow transgender identifying persons to change the sex designations on their birth certificates upon request.

The UCLA Williams Institute School of Law reports:

In 2011, Gary J. Gates utilized two state-level population-based surveys that collected data from 2003 in California and from 2007 and 2009 in Massachusetts to estimate that 0.3% of the U.S. adult population, roughly 700,000 adults, identified as transgender.2 Since then, more state-level data sources have emerged that allow us to utilize an estimation procedure that would not have been possible with the limited data available in 2011. Compared to the data used in Gates’ study, these new data sources provide more recent data (2014), larger sample sizes, and more detailed information about respondents. This allows for the development of more recent, detailed, and statistically robust estimates of the percentage and number of adults in the United States who identify as transgender.

This report utilizes data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to estimate the percentage and number of adults who identify as transgender nationally and in all 50 states.3 We find that 0.6% of U.S. adults identify as transgender. This figure is double the estimate that utilized data from roughly a decade ago and implies that an estimated 1.4 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender.4 State-level estimates of adults who identify as transgender range from 0.3% in North Dakota to 0.8% in Hawaii.5 In addition, due to current state-level policy debates that specifically target and affect transgender students, we provide estimates of the number of adults who identify as transgender by age. The youngest age group, 18 to 24 year olds, is more likely than older age groups to identify as transgender.

Transgender is being pushed on many of our children in school almost from kindergarten. Social media has a lot to do with its increase among teenagers and young adults. There are very few social media posts by people who have regretted transgender surgery or hormone treatments. Generally they are not posted. The social media posts seem to imply that changing your sex will solve all of your teenage problems. Obviously,  many of the teenagers who attempt this solution promptly find out that it is not the answer to their problems. Unfortunately many of the steps taken by the time a teenager realizes their mistake are irreversible. I don’t think it is unreasonable to require at least a letter of request to change the gender on your birth certificate.

Common Sense In Alabama

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Yesterday The Washington Examiner reported that the Alabama state Senate voted Tuesday to make it a felony for medical professionals to treat minors with hormone therapy or sex change surgery.

The article reports:

The bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Shay Shelnutt and dubbed the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, passed through the chamber by a margin of 23-4, according to CBS News.

The bill would result in criminal felony charges for any medical professional who treats transgender minors under the age of 19 with “gender-affirming care” and would come with the punishment of up to 10 years in prison or a $15,000 fine.

…The bill also requires school staff in the state to notify parents that “a minor’s perception that his or her gender is inconsistent with his or her sex.”

If signed into law, the bill would be the first of its kind in the United States to be enacted.

The article includes the following information about objections to the bill:

Liberal groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, AIDS Alabama, and the Alabama American Civil Liberties Union, have voiced opposition to the bill, arguing that it puts transgender children at risk.

“Lawmakers are insisting that they know what’s best for transgender young people and ignoring the recommendations of medical experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and more,” Allison Scott, a director at the Campaign for Southern Equality, said about the legislation. “It’s effectively endangering many possible lifelines for a transgender child: Under this bill, they can’t go to their doctor for help, and they can’t seek counsel or comfort from their teachers or school staff.”

The children need to talk to their parents. That should be their first resort. Also, you can’t get your ears pierced without parental consent if you are under 18, why should you be encouraged to make such a life-changing decision without their knowledge or consent? If a child still wants to make that decision at 19, then he is considered an adult. However, I would like to point out that we don’t let children smoke or drink until they are 21. Why would we allow them to change their sex before they can smoke or drink? The logic escapes me.

The Censors At Amazon Are Censoring Any Books They Deem Offensive

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There is a whole lot of offensive material out in our society that no one is censoring, so why has Amazon taken it upon themselves to censor anything that they find offensive? First of all, who defines offensive? Well, that seems to be the problem.

Yesterday The Daily Wire posted an article about Amazon’s censorship. Amazon has some interesting ideas about what needs to be censored.

The article reports:

For example, a popular documentary on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was banned from their streaming service this past week. Before that move, the company deplatformed conservative Ryan Anderson’s book critical of gender theory, “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement.”

When Just the News reached out to Amazon over the ban on Anderson’s book, the outlet said the company directed them to a page outlining their “Content Guidelines for Books.” Under a section labeled “Offensive Content,” Amazon states that they “don’t sell certain content including content that we determine is hate speech, promotes the abuse or sexual exploitation of children, contains pornography, glorifies rape or pedophilia, advocates terrorism, or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive.”

“A review of those policies suggests that sometime in the last few months Amazon made a major change to the ways in which it moderates book content on its servers, imposing a much stricter standard on books than it had previously done,” the report said. It appears the company recently added so-called “hate speech” to their guidelines on book platforming and is amping up their censorship of the “offensive.”

The article notes an observation by Daily Wire podcast host and conservative author Matt Walsh that if Amazon bans conservative books (which is the direction they are going), publishers won’t publish them due to the lack of marketing outlets. This will abolish half of the political debate in America.

The article notes:

“When a company controls over 83% of the market for books, it begins the process of deleting ideas from a society,” the author argued. “A bookseller can sell whatever it wants. If ‘Marxist Books’ wants to only sell books that conform to its ideology, OK; that has integrity.”

“But this is the ‘world’s largest bookseller.’ Amazon can basically make books disappear for *all readers* — and does so on a blatantly dishonest basis. Under guise of removing ‘inappropriate’ content, they will really be removing ideas they disfavor,” she added.

Amazon has not banned books that speak favorably about transgender teenagers. This is not about objectionable material–it is about promoting a particular point of view–politically and socially.

Common Sense From A Legislator?

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Breitbart reported yesterday that Tulsi Gabbard introduced the “Protect Women’s Sports Act” in Congress on Thursday.

The article reports:

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) maintained the distinction between the sexes while addressing critics of her Protect Women’s Sports Act in a Twitter video published on Sunday.

Gabbard introduced the above-mentioned legislation with Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on Thursday. The bill proposes the restriction of federal funds from schools allowing boys and men to compete against girls and women in sports.

Gabbard identified broad physical advantages held by men relative to women as a rationale to segregate the sexes in the context of sports to preserve “a level playing field.”

There are two major aspects of this issue that need to be discussed. The first is the idea of high school boys in high school girls’ locker rooms. I suspect that fathers who remember what it was like to be a teenage boy would not support this idea. The second aspect is equally important. Young women who are outstanding high school athletes are being denied scholarships opportunities because they are losing in competition against biological young men.

Boys competing against boys and girls competing against girls used to be a non-issue, but the cultural warriors who want to undermine our basic societal norms have chosen to make it an issue. The issue of transgender has been pushed on teenagers through social media and added to the confusion that teenagers feel as they are attempting to find their identity. The real victims of this push to undermine what used to be understood are the teenagers who are often pushed into irreversible decisions because of peer pressure and pressure from social media. Parents need to stand up to the cultural warriors and protect their children.

This Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone

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The Epoch Times posted an article today about a sexual assault case in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The alleged assault took place in a gender-neutral bathroom in a high school. I sincerely question if the people who came up with the idea of gender-neutral bathrooms were ever teenagers. Unfortunately we don’t live in a world that can safely support the idea of gender-neutral bathrooms. I’m not sure that world ever existed, but it does not exist now.

The article reports:

According to News 9 WOAW, 18-year-old Austin Sauer was arrested on Thursday on charges of child enticement, fourth-degree sexual assault, and exposing genitals to a child, the sex of whom has not been reported.

The Wisconsin state law defines fourth-degree sexual assault as “sexual contact with a person without the consent of that person.”

An officer from the Oneida County Sheriff’s Department told the local ABC affiliate that the incident took place in a gender-neutral bathroom at Rhinelander High School. The school has promptly closed that bathroom.

In a statement released to WOAW, Rhinelander School District Superintendent Kelli Jacobi said that “both students went into the bathroom voluntarily.”

“This was not a random incident, as both students went into the bathroom voluntarily,” she said. “The male student will no longer be able to be on school grounds, and the gender-neutral bathroom is no longer available to students.”

The article concludes:

Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision in a privacy lawsuit against a public school district in Dallas, Oregon. A panel of three judges ruled in favor of the school district, saying that it did not violate federal law or constitutional rights with a “student safety plan” that allows transgender students to use bathroom, locker, and shower facilities that “match their self-identified gender.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court last May refused to hear an appeal in a case from Pennsylvania, in which lower federal courts upheld a school district’s policy of permitting transgender students to use restrooms or locker rooms matching their gender identity. Four students, who felt uncomfortable with the policy, sued the school district on the basis that it violated their privacy rights and federal laws under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

It seems to me that common sense needs to be part of this discussion. The majority of our high school students are not transgender. Those students are entitled to privacy. There is no reason for a student with male genitals to be in a high school girls’ locker room. I don’t know exactly what provisions would have to be made, but I wouldn’t want my granddaughters to have to deal with boys in their locker room. If they still have their male body parts, they are boys and do not belong in the girls’ locker room. If they no longer belong in the boys’ locker room, then other facilities need to be made available.