A Missouri high school saw almost 200 students walk out because transgender Lila Perry was changing in the girl’s locker room, reports News AU.
17 year old Perry identifies herself as a girl, and wears a wig and female clothing, although still has male genitala.
While she initially used a gender neutral bathroom to change for sports lessons, she argues that she didn’t want to segregate herself.
“I wasn’t hurting anyone and I didn’t want to feel segregated out,” Perry told KMOV.
A student at the school Sophie Beel said:
“I find it offensive because Lila has not been through any procedure to become female,” student Sophie Beel told Fox 2. “Putting on a dress and putting on a wig is not transgender to me.”
She said, in words aimed at concerned parents of the girl students:
“I’m not going to hurt their daughters […] I’m not going to expose myself. I’m not a pervert. I’m a transgender woman. I’m a girl. I’m just in there to change, do my business.”
Child custody lawyers in Thailand Chaninat and Leeds have decades of courtroom and counseling experience in family law matters, including child custody, child support, property and asset disputes, divorce, separation, guardianship and revocation of custody, and parental rights cases.
Although school authorities have been supportive of Perry’s transition, the support may be partly due to legal concerns.
The US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights could potentially cause trouble for the school if they were to refuse the students right to use the bathroom of the sex she identifies with.
Kelli Hopkins from the Missouri School Boards’ Association, said:
“The Office of Civil Rights has issued an opinion that says, if you do this, you have engaged in gender discrimination.”
“At the same time, there is no case law or statute in Missouri that says this is against the law.”
For the full story see here.
In 2008 it was announced that Kampang Secondary School in the North East of Thailand, was opening a new bathroom for transsexuals and gays, after a survey revealed that upwards of 10% of the 2500 student body identified as such.
Headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha explains the rationale behind the move:
“They used to be teased every time they used the boys’ toilets,” he said, “so they started using the girls’ toilets instead. But that made the girls feel uncomfortable. It made these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work.”
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