Staff Reports
Transgendered Youths In Colorado Warned Not To Use Bathrooms
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| Kurt Peters & Dionne Malikowski via 9News.com |
In a recent interview with Denver's NBC 9News, Malikowski who was born male and Peters who was born female said that they both feel that the staff at Fort Collins High is not being receptive to their needs as transgender individuals.
"To be one sex that feels like they're the other sex," Malikowski said defining what a transgender person feels.
Inside Fort Collins High School, the two say they are asked to use staff restrooms. "There's not staff bathrooms all over the school, so when you really got to pee, you got to pee," Malikowski said.That's what she says happened about a month ago when she used the women's restroom. She was told she'd be suspended for three days."I cried," Malikowski said. "I told them that it was really messed up for them to do that to me, and they were like, 'We've warned you before,' and I was just like, 'Obviously you don't understand what it's like.'"The school won't comment because of student confidentiality, but on the school's website "defiance" is listed as one reason a student can get suspended."I feel like the school doesn't really understand what it's like to be in our situation," Malikowski said. ~ NBC 9News.com
Peters told the Denver station that a similar incident occurred when he used the men's room although in that instance he only received a warning not a suspension. “Since it was a first time offense, they let me go,” Peters said. “But I think it’s really stupid that Dionne got suspended and I didn’t. I should have got suspended if Dionne did.”
Fort Collins High School has referred media inquiries to the offices of the Poudre School District and refused to comment citing student confidentiality. A spokesperson for the Poudre schools superintendent Dr. Jerry Wilson, told LGBTQNation there is not an across-the-board policy for bathroom use by transgender students.
According to 9News, without input from school officials,it's impossible to know exactly what happened in the hallways of Fort Collins High School, but the two students say they feel punished for who they are.
"It kind of makes us feel like we're not welcome," Malikowski said.
In a phone call Thursday with the Colorado Association of School Boards, Brad Stauffer, director of communications, told LGBTQNation the problem confronting school administrators statewide is there really is no case law covering these legal scenarios in Colorado and the association hasn't provided any guidance to school districts. He said the issue is an emerging legal one and schools are still working their way through it.
Over 800 Mourners Pay Last Respects To Murdered Gay Scotsman Stuart Walker
Walker was found brutally beaten, burned and left by the side of a road in the early morning hours of October 22nd in the Caponacre Industrial area near his home. Police have arrested an 18-year-old man, Ryan Esquierdo, in connection with Walker's murder but are releasing few details.
In his eulogy, Vicar the Reverend John Paterson praised Walker’s character telling the gathering his murder had “devastated the community”.
“Stuart lived life to the full and everyone who came into contact with him was affected by his love for life,” he said.“He enjoyed socialising and whenever he was out he always charmed his company into getting a dance.”Speaking of the murder, he added: “This has devastated his family. But it has also devastated the community as you can see by the turnout today. Stuart was very generous in the widest sense of the word. In his time and his spirit and that’s what people will remember him by. The number of people who have stood in support will give great strength to the family.”
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1 comments:
Re: Transgendered Youth.
I can really understand both sides, or maybe it should be 'all' sides.
There's the guy body with female psyche in the guy restroom side;
the female body with the guy psyche in the female restroom side;
the female body with the guy psyche in the male restroom;
the male body with the female psyche in the women's restroom;
there's the other students who don't know exactly who is using the restrooms but are already weirded out by thoughts of being perved by gays, not to even think about transgendered people;
there's the administration which will get complaints no matter what they decide to do, so they choose the easiest logical path and seek to have the transgendered use the staff washrooms.
It IS a conundrum, but eventually it needs to be resolved. Logically, the only likely long term solution is private gender neutral restrooms, not communal ones. Many restaurants are going that route. One person in, and the door is locked.
In the meantime, or if costs are simply too prohibitive to create those new styles, make all the communal restrooms with cubicles, and anyone and everyone is welcome in each. Get rid of the urinals, and have only private sections for everyone, in each restroom.
It is unlikely that we, as a society, are ever going to get to the point of being 100% comfortable 'doing our thing' in an open public space, but surely we can get somewhat accustomed to using private cubicles.
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