The Observation Deck

Over the past week this issue has broken out as the biggest non-Trump story in America.
Has this ever been a controversy in Lakewood?

On Friday the President issued guidance on the matter for public schools, unleashing a new round of conservative backlash.
Will this have any impact locally?
Have Lakewood Schools ever had a transgender student?

Mike-- I don't think this came up as an issue in the past Lakewood School Board campaign. It was right at the cusp of the issue at that time. I have to think that the Lakewood Public Schools have successfully dealt with many potentially contentious issues over the years so that this one particular issue can be reasonably dealt with if it is even an issue to begin with.

Stan Austin

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas called this the biggest issue in public education since the removal of school prayer. Not school funding, common core/NCLB, technology, disability access, or classroom size. Heck, it's even bigger than Texas high school football!

A few years back when this movement was in its infancy I had asked a few of the school board members their opinion. I was assured that it was not going to be an issue in Lakewood and boys used boys rooms and girls used girls rooms.

The high school has a locker room for the pool so we are not just talking about restroom stalls.

I have left a couple messages to get an update on their thoughts now that the issue is being pushed so much harder.

Amazing how a couple years can numb people to how crazy this is.

Why are people getting hysterical over this? My bathroom at home is used by all genders! Porta-potties are genderless.

The simple solution is to have individual rooms. For example, Starbucks usually has 2 bathrooms, one for men one for women. I'll use whichever one is free first, I don't wait. It's a single, lockable room. That's what they all should be and there is no need to say it's for men OR women - it's for whoever is next in line!

As for schools and larger facilities that have bathrooms with multiple stalls, the easiest solution is adding one or two private bathrooms that could be used by anyone who felt that they couldn't choose between the Male or Female bathroom. I know most public schools have smaller, private bathrooms for the teachers. All you need to do is let the transgender student know that that bathroom is available for their use.

I think there are some minor adjustments that can be made to accommodate people who feel uncomfortable or who are different. It just takes some rational, common sense thinking and empathy for all involved. It doesn't need to be broadcast or blown up into something it's not.

One day, all bathrooms will likely be single person units and we will laugh that we had "stalls." The privacy afforded by them is superior and it precludes anyone worrying about being watched or seen.

This will start happening all over the country. Government forced sexual harassment of woman. I guess if the liberals have to choose between womans rights and .03% of the population, they choose the ones that need help not "support"... it is insane....

http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/21/why-t ... cker-room/

Since "gender" is no longer scientific I wonder what the new liberal obstetricians will answer when parents ask if it is a boy or girl? Will they say, we will have to wait and see?

Gender does have a meaning but it isn't whether you have a penis or not. The dictionary definition is below.

b : the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex

Biological sex is complicated because it involves both your physical appearance and your chromosomes. Men are supposed to have the XY combo and women should be XX. Sometimes things go wrong and there are babies that appear male born with XX chromosomes or there may be other anomalies that make determining their "sex" difficult - immature or underdeveloped genitals, ambiguous genitalia, or genitalia with both male and female characteristics. So what are they?

Researchers have lately discovered that some women who have female physical characteristics and who identify as female, actually have the male XY chromosomes. They look female, act female, have female parts, and had no idea that biologically they had male chromosomes. So what are they?

My point is that gender is not biological and biology doesn't always confer a gender identity consistent with your chromosomes or physical appearance. Because of all these critical issues, I'm not in any position to tell another human being what they are, or who they should be.

Is it difficult to accept? It might be hard to wrap your head around the idea that it's not black and white, but I imagine people who thought the sun revolved around the Earth were pretty upset to think it wasn't so. I heard it took 350 years for that knowledge to sink in.

Why don't we just post monitors by every public restroom and make it mandatory that you have to pull your pants down so they can send you to the proper bathroom? Transgenders have been around for years. This is nothing new. It is not just men, it is women also. I don't ever remember reading headlines that say" Transgender person attacks or rapes in a public or school restroom." It is sad to see so many people here on the Deck making a big deal about this. A few months ago when I posted about the roughly 11 persons raped here in Lakewood, including a two year old boy, and Summers hiding it from the residents, nobody even said they were appalled!

This is just another stupid issue that Obama has chosen to make a big deal about. Meanwhile, crimes in the poor areas with blacks shooting blacks is getting worse, cops are being hunted down and executed, ISIS has infiltrated our borders and can strike anywhere and at anytime. I have a relative who holds a high position in the Homeland Security Department. ISIS is here, and it is real!

If men want to dress like women and vice versa, it doesn't bother me. They also have stalls in the men's room. Leave it alone. We have bigger fish to fry!

Lori Allen _ wrote:This is just another stupid issue that Obama has chosen to make a big deal about.

Obama didn't make this an issue, the religious conservatives did. It started with the North Carolina Governor, and it went "national" last week.
The religious right wants this to be an issue because they think it's a "political winner".
They have suffered a string a major defeats (first gay marriage, now Donald Trump) and want to get some momentum back.

Michael,

You are wrong, this is not a conservative issue. I have been following and fighting this movement for years. Frogs that are slowly boiled don't know it. You my friend are being boiled. The movement is picking up speed because those that do see this as a black and white issue, which it is, are sitting quietly on the sidelines.

The gay movement is pushing the envelope slowly but without ceasing and trying to shut down those still standing on principles and values by labeling them as haters and bigots. It was their game plan from decades ago and it is working as they hoped. Those that can still see the difference between right and wrong don't have a game plan and are getting beaten.

Those with mental illnesses, which it is (read about how it changed) need help to fix their problems not a country to encourage deviant hurtful lifestyles.

Sounds to me like Ryan Salo is the one with mental illness . . . .

As one of those transgender deviants Ryan is talking about, I can assure you we have been using the restroom of the gender we identify with for years and it's never been an issue. Lori is correct.

When I first flirted with coming out in high school 15 year ago, it was a scary place. Now, years later, both me and my girlfriend are trans, and work in the financial industry. Every single company we've looked at has very strict anti-discrimination policies and are almost universally supportive of transgender rights.

The world has come so far in so short a time. Everyone I know my age has never had any problems with me being trans, it's always just been something as insignificant as being left-handed. And to my surprise, in the past few years even the older people at work have been friendlier. Not a person has ever given me any problems. I read about trans kids who don't have to hide who they are and it boggles the mind how fast society has come around, but it makes me so happy.

Just as opposition to marriage equlaity crumbled, it's becoming increasingly clear that opposition to trans rights is probably going to being constrained to a bible-belt issue, and the bitter dinner-table ranting at the nursing home.

Brave new world, friendos. glad I get to see it!

Sorry, Ryan, but for every question in human biology there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. It's not just a matter of who has an "innie" and who has an "outie", as much as some people want it to be. In humans - as with other species - a certain percentage of the population is naturally something other than completely cis-gender, heterosexual. In that sense, being GLBT is perfectly normal. As with many subjects and topics, when we are younger we learn the simplified version of things (sanitized might be a better word in some cases) that may well apply to the majority giving people an incorrect impression of what is actually "normal" in the real world. XX=girl; XY=boy? Sure, most of the time. But that's not always the case as I wasn't formally taught until human molecular genetics class. Sometimes XX is a boy and XY a girl. Then there's X, XXX, XXY, XYY, etc. Then there are differences in the endocrine systems and brain chemistries and so on. Life is fantastically complex and not even gender can be put neatly into one of two boxes. That's the science of it. Maybe check out something by Alice Dreger (not related). We really need to put the fear and persecution of those that are different from us in the past.