Court rules that boy who identifies as a girl should be allowed to use the girls bathroom

Who should be allowed to use
the ladies room?

In Maine last week, the Maine Human Rights Commission ruled that a child who is biologically male but self-identifies as female must be allowed to use the girls bathroom at her school.  The child, a fifth-grader, had been allowed to use the girls bathroom until another child began harrassing her.  The other child, a non-transgender boy, was encouraged to use the girls bathroom whenever the transgender girl was using it.  He also called the girl "faggot" and other slurs, and intimidated her, according to theBangor Daily News.

The boy was disciplined for harrassing the transgender girl, and was removed from her class.  When he began harrassing her in the bathroom, he was disciplined again, according to a report, "because his biological sex is male and his gender identity is male and he used the girls’ bathroom."

At this point, the transgender child was forbidden from using either the boys or girls bathroom, and was required to use a faculty bathroom at the other end of the school.  Limiting the bathrooms available to the fifth grader was intended to protect her from harrassment.

Eric Mehnert, a lawyer for the transgender child and her family, said they were unhappy with requiring the child to use a separate bathroom.  “The message that was sent from the superintendent said that it is OK to segregate this child, it is OK to ostracize this child,” Mehnert said. “I think [the parents’] biggest challenge is their fear — it’s a very real fear — that the Orono school system has told them that they don’t think they can protect the child.”

The boy was encouraged by his grandfather, Paul Melanson, to follow the transgender girl into the bathroom.  “Little boys do not belong in the little girls room, and vice versa,” he told the commission. “This isn’t just about my kid. A lot of children have come up to me and said that this isn’t right.” 

Melanson told the Family Research Council, a conservative religious organization, that police asked him not to turn his grandson into a "pawn" in this political fight, but he declined.  He explained that when his 10 year old grandson was old enough to make his own decisions, he could, but until then, he was going to tell his grandson what to do.  He indicated that he instructed his grandson to repeatedly follow the other child into the bathroom and harrass the child, something he could not do himself without being labeled a "pervert."

Melanson is now trying to build a movement of mothers in Maine to protest the decision. 

Issues of transgender children and their families will be addressed at the 2009 Gender Odyssey Conference to be held over Labor Day Weekend in Seattle.  It is the 7th annual conference, and is always held in Seattle.  For more information about the conference, click here. 

For more information on transgender children,click here.
 

Source:  Bangor Daily News