Transgender 6-year-old barred

[Jazzy]

A six-year-old transgender child is fighting alongside her parents for the right to be recognized as a girl at school.



Coy Mathis, who was born male but has identified as female since the age of four, was barred from using the girls' restroom at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, Colorado in December.



On a special edition of the Katie show, her parents Jeremy and Kathryn Mathis revealed that they are now pursuing legal action over the the school district's decision to force Coy to only use the boys' bathroom, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms or the nurse's bathroom.



Michael Silverman of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, who is representing the Mathis family said: 'By forcing Coy to use a different bathroom than all the other girls, Coy’s school is targeting her for stigma, bullying and harassment.



Mrs Mathis said that Coy was just 18-months-old when she started being drawn towards 'everything girl'.



Some of her favorite items included a fairy flower dress with a matching tutu and a Dora the Explorer bathing suit.



'It was starting to be obvious to us that Coy was really uncomfortable being a boy,' Mrs Mathis recalled.



'He wanted to know when we were going to take him to the doctor so that they would give him girl parts so that his body would be a girl.'

Full article with pictures & video



This story really bothers me. Since when does a four year old boy know he's a girl? How does a child this young know about going to the doctor to get girl parts?



What are your thoughts?

 

[seasidemike]

ya, that is fecked up

 

[seasidemike]

ya, that is fecked up

I think that this is a case where the parents really wanted a daughter.

 

[Bluezone777]

If you had bothered to read the article then you might have noticed the picture of the parents alongside their FIVE kids some of which were girls.



It has hardly anything to do with wanting a girl. This country is still rather immature when dealing with sexuality as we are barely getting even the slightest bit of sense towards homosexuality so it's not surprising that society is still clueless as to how to handle transgendered people.



As for bathrooms go, if you remove the urinals out of men's bathrooms then they are identical. If you walked into a gender neutral bathroom then there wouldn't be much that you could tell out of who was using which stall outside of a man standing while pissing.



Who knows... maybe removing the spotlight that we shine on our differences might end up as a good thing? The only differences we should be focusing on are the ones we work to create and not the ones we are given due to being born or where we ended up being born.

 

[seasidemike]

If you had bothered to read the article then you might have noticed the picture of the parents alongside their FIVE kids some of which were girls.



It has hardly anything to do with wanting a girl. This country is still rather immature when dealing with sexuality as we are barely getting even the slightest bit of sense towards homosexuality so it's not surprising that society is still clueless as to how to handle transgendered people.



As for bathrooms go, if you remove the urinals out of men's bathrooms then they are identical. If you walked into a gender neutral bathroom then there wouldn't be much that you could tell out of who was using which stall outside of a man standing while pissing.



Who knows... maybe removing the spotlight that we shine on our differences might end up as a good thing? The only differences we should be focusing on are the ones we work to create and not the ones we are given due to being born or where we ended up being born.

Give me a break, this is about the parents, not the kid.

 

[Jazzy]

Isn't it normal for little boys and girls to play dress up or play with each others toys?



Heck, when I was small I was a tomboy. I preferred to play with boys toys such as Tonka trucks. I would even wear boys jeans because they fit me better than the girls jeans did.



Did my Dad shave my head and dress me for school like a boy? Hell no! It was just a stage in my life that I outgrew. Who's to say Coy is any different than I was?

 

[DrLeftover]

I might be old fashioned....



But I think this should be left up to the parents, the child's pediatrician, and whatever mental health professional they are seeing (if any), and then handled by the school district as needed with as much compassion and professionalism as they can muster, and it is essentially nobody else's business as the child is, by definition, a minor.

 

[seasidemike]

I might be old fashioned....



But I think this should be left up to the parents, the child's pediatrician, and whatever mental health professional they are seeing (if any), and then handled by the school district as needed with as much compassion and professionalism as they can muster, and it is essentially nobody else's business as the child is, by definition, a minor.

it is nobodies business until the parents decide to sue their kids school for not allowing their son to use the girls washroom and make it international news posting videos of the kids and photos out there for all to look at.

 

[DrLeftover]

Point taken.

 

[Jazzy]

it is nobodies business until the parents decide to sue their kids school for not allowing their son to use the girls washroom and make it international news posting videos of the kids and photos out there for all to look at.

Very well said and I 100% agree with you.

 

[Sk8]

There are several factors to consider in relation to this: the child, rights of the transgendered, defining grounds of equality, and clearly defining what grounds both sides are acting on legally.



Typically, things dealing with minors are close-lipped, excepting cases where parents waive consent and then that becomes a non-issue. However, there are two schools of thought, generally speaking: leave it behind closed doors verses making the issue everyone's affair. Because this is a legal action, which will affect other identified transgendered children within Colorado, and any other pending cases in other states, this legal case becomes everyone's affair. To clarify, the legal actions have become everyone's affair, but parental care is still subjective to the closed door policy. These parents, while airing their business, do seem concerned with the welfare of their children.



If the sources of the article are correct, then this is not just a matter of the parents wanting another girl, or the parents dictating what their son would become: A psychologist confirmed that Coy was transgender and when she was four-years old her parents let her 'be who she was' and she made the transition from boy to girl (Whitelocks).



If this source is correct, the parents are not dictating their child's life; now, the counterargument is they are not being much in way of parents, either. However, dictating sexual identity is not a matter of parenting and can cause a lot of psychological problems for children. These parents are not allowing their children to smoke, drink and make life decisions which have negative impacts - they are letting their son be who he wants to be.



For the individuals this disturbs the most, consider what aspects of this disturbs you: that a boy can identify as a girl, or that his parents are allowing him to do so? Or that the article is already identifying Coy as a girl? Masculinity and femininity are not limited to only physical traits, they are hormonal and metaphysical manifestations.



What this article is truly testing the grounds with is the next social movement - the continued acceptance of the LGBT community. If you stop a moment and think, would you be comfortable in the opposite gender's bathroom? A bathroom, neutral or no, is just a bathroom, but people have funny associations with bathrooms. Legally, it is understandable why they school is taking the stance it is, but so is the parents.



People who fall into the LGBT label are still associated as something other than human, but that is all we are: human. These parents are looking for solace for their child - a solution to solving the possible repercussions which can already come with self-identifying as a transgender.



If we solely make this about the parents, we lose the larger argument: transgenders are at a disadvantage in society, similar to the rest of the LGBT community. If individuals write this off as just over zealous, sue-hungry parents, then the larger issue goes ignored, and we stagnate dealing with this social issue which society will be faced with for some time to come.



And for those opposed due to age, consider when you had your first crush? Many young children develop crushes and this would, to many, establish their sexual identity (though that is arguable to a degree). Falling back to the argument sexual identity is taught would deny many factors of this (i.e. a four-year old identifying as a transgender), and there is nothing to date saying Coy prefers boys or girls, only that she identifies as a girl. This is who she has chosen to be and who she is comfortable as being, so what is the real issue here? She has chosen to be a she, and a psychologist has looked into this and agreed Coy is a transgender, so ...?

 

[seasidemike]

that is all political correctness bullsh1t

Personally I have nothing against anyone other than parents to put their kids in the front pages of the media for their own bullsh1t glorification.



if you want to change school policy on toilets than open communal washrooms to not be gender specific at all, but don't be going after the school because they will not let a boy use the girls washroom.



Everyone wonders why school budgets are being slashed and insurance premiums are going through the roof.. it is because asshole parents like these go out an sue the education systems for their own personal agendas.



I hope the lose their lawsuit and have to pay all costs involved.

 

[Sk8]

No, that is my personal opinion on the matter, seasidemike; not political correctness. That this is a legal case must be handled differently from the human side of things. Secondly, this is based in the US, and my assessment of this being the next trend of social equality does not go unjustified. While I understand your dissatisfaction with the parents for making a media mockery of this, the sentiment is almost wholly American in design; however, the idea behind media press - if the parents are not making simply a media mockery of the overall situation - is to express the societal issue of integrating and accepting transgenders into society.



With transgenders, those who identify as transgenders, they no longer identify as their physical gender: Coy is a girl, psychologically, he is a she, which makes this difficult. This is where the difficulty of the situation arises because parents, especially those who only see Coy as a crossdresser, which is different from a transgender, would certainly have a problem with a boy going into a girls' restroom. However, Coy identifies as a little girl; psychologically, he is a she, and therein lies the problem.



The lawsuit is not laid out in full on the article, and I have not tracked it down for clarification of the full legal action, but my assumptions are they are wanting their daughter to have the right to use the girls' restroom.



Unfortunately, at least in the US, school budgets are slashed because education is always one of the first things cut when government begins its budget cuts. Furthermore, this is not just federal cuts, but state cuts, too. There are some states who put a lot of focus on their educational institutions, but schools are always hit first for spending cuts. US budgets go into a majority of other spending pots instead of places they need to be, but that is, indirectly, going away from the topic of Coy.



Though to your point on this: yes, there are parents out there who do make legal actions into their own personal agendas, especially in the US, which is so sue-happy.



However, again, what this comes down to is Coy: she is transgender and identifies as a little girl, and the US is struggling to make enough room for equality for the LGBT community as is. This will not be the last case similar to this, and we will likely see more and more cases such as this occur (if not as media flashing).

 

[seasidemike]

No, that is my personal opinion on the matter, seasidemike; not political correctness. That this is a legal case must be handled differently from the human side of things. Secondly, this is based in the US, and my assessment of this being the next trend of social equality does not go unjustified. While I understand your dissatisfaction with the parents for making a media mockery of this, the sentiment is almost wholly American in design; however, the idea behind media press - if the parents are not making simply a media mockery of the overall situation - is to express the societal issue of integrating and accepting transgenders into society.



With transgenders, those who identify as transgenders, they no longer identify as their physical gender: Coy is a girl, psychologically, he is a she, which makes this difficult. This is where the difficulty of the situation arises because parents, especially those who only see Coy as a crossdresser, which is different from a transgender, would certainly have a problem with a boy going into a girls' restroom. However, Coy identifies as a little girl; psychologically, he is a she, and therein lies the problem.



The lawsuit is not laid out in full on the article, and I have not tracked it down for clarification of the full legal action, but my assumptions are they are wanting their daughter to have the right to use the girls' restroom.



Unfortunately, at least in the US, school budgets are slashed because education is always one of the first things cut when government begins its budget cuts. Furthermore, this is not just federal cuts, but state cuts, too. There are some states who put a lot of focus on their educational institutions, but schools are always hit first for spending cuts. US budgets go into a majority of other spending pots instead of places they need to be, but that is, indirectly, going away from the topic of Coy.



Though to your point on this: yes, there are parents out there who do make legal actions into their own personal agendas, especially in the US, which is so sue-happy.



However, again, what this comes down to is Coy: she is transgender and identifies as a little girl, and the US is struggling to make enough room for equality for the LGBT community as is. This will not be the last case similar to this, and we will likely see more and more cases such as this occur (if not as media flashing).

so my point is this.. get rid of urinals, put in more stalls and make all washrooms general use. Why separate them at all?

but no, let sue a bankrupt school system and take money of the pockets of the majority so we can satisfy those who make up a vast minority.

 

[Evil Eye]

People who fall into the LGBT label are still associated as something other than human, but that is all we are: human.

QFT. People do like to pigeonhole everything and everyone.

Why separate them at all?

Presumably because someone wanted it so. Which is odd when you think about the extra costs involved.



Come to think of it, my primary school didn't have separate bathrooms.

 

[Sk8]

Depends. For example, in my elementary school, the boys in my age group had this weird, perhaps it was phallic, habit of peeing on the walls, playing in urine (and the urinals) and such. I assume they grew out of it, but I do not know. What I do know is throughout high school the boy's bathroom inevitably always became a biological hazard zone in the upper hall throughout the year (I don't know what they did in there). The stench of the boy's bathroom would always plague that cross-section of the freshmen section ... Anyway, with the differences, and some issues which can arise from coed situations, it is understandable why students at large have separate bathrooms.