Transgendered Teachers "Rights" - WTF

One of my friends just posted this on her facebook wall:

(Names have been removed and replaced with **)

*My Friend* "Aaaaaaaand... my daughter is working her way towards a good Catholic education."

Debate Over Transgender Teachers - CBS News Video

www.cbsnews.com

CBS News: Debate Over Transgender Teachers - Nancy Cordes spoke with the Human Rights Campaign's Allyson Robinson and the Traditional Values Coalition's Andrea Lafferty about the upcoming congressional vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Yesterday at 9:10pm · Comment · Like · Share

*Friend 1* - "I will take a qualified transgender teacher over a straight "teacher" that doesn't know how to teach or that doesn't care about kids any day. Look at the skills of the teacher and not the gender. Seriously, should we also not allow gays and lesbians to teach? Let's just put everyone who is not "normal" according to the religious radicals on an island! Everyone needs to stop judging others and let God do the judging!"

Yesterday at 9:41pm

*My Friend's Father* - "You miss the point of the discussion. No one argues for unqualified teachers in the classroom. A kindergartener should not be required to "learn" why his/her teacher has changed from Ralph to Mary before he or she knows how to read. Parents should also be permitted to direct this sort of personal part of their child's upbringing. You don't have to be a "religious radical" to recognize that an agenda is being pushed here and parents are best able to make the decision about its appropriateness."

Yesterday at 10:22pm

Heather *Me* - "That's sad. The fact that people possess that sort of prejudice and hatred for others and hide behind terms like "severe mental disorder" and "Christianity" only proves that they are hypocritical bigots. So much for love and acceptance.

On the physical side...approximately 17 out of every 1000 births are inter-sexed...meaning the child may appear male or female but has physical identifiers of the other gender. Many parents opt to have their newborn surgically altered to appear fully one sex even though the child may have equal traits devoted to male and female anatomy. Should these people also be banned from teaching simply because they were born different?

Since the term "transgender" covers people who dress and act in a style or manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex...they are being discriminated based solely on their appearance. Think of what kind of doors this opens... Maybe all teachers should be under a certain weight so that children aren't led to believe that being overweight is acceptable... This line of thinking is hurtful and ignorant.

In my opinion, the idea of binary gender groups is not only unrealistic, it's also a much more harmful to a child to tell them that people that are different deserve to be treated with less respect. The world isn't monochromatic. Children who grow up in a more diverse culture will be more accepting in the future. The only people that are "confused" are the parents...unfortunately many of them would be more content poisoning the minds of our youth than allowing them to embrace cultural diversity."

The real concern I have here is that it's discrimination. Plain and simple. What if a child is "confused" that their teacher is not the same color they are? Or talks different from mommy and daddy? These are still things you "can't" explain to a child...but it's still wrong to exclude them from the classroom if they are qualified and capable to teach.

Trying to make sure everyone fits into the make-believe "standards" that many adults have set in place is why racists and sexists still exist today. They are created, not born. And parents can choose that for their children...it's just wrong to not give those people that are transgendered any choices.

Just my opinion...but I support equal rights."

9 hours ago ·

*Friend 1* - "Okay, so I haven't read this entire stream of comments, but here's once again where the religious radicals contradict themselves. Their reasoning is that we should, as parents, have the right to make choices for our children. What about the right to make choices when it comes to our own bodies? Is education more important of a right than our control over our own bodies? (I am truly not this liberal but its worth a thought.)

And, I 100% agree with Heather. This is no different than the arguments for segregated schools. Should we really allow our children to be taught by someone that looks different, or, God forbid, go to school or eat beside children that are different? Its a huge slippery slope. I recommend that you look at the level of education a child will receive in certain schools and, believe it or not, but non-Catholic, non-white, non-specific gender, non-straight people can provide one heck of a good education. Check out the tenured professors at the First Tier Universities. You will most likely find that no one professor at those schools fits the specific mold that the religious right wants for our children.

Bottom line: As a parent, we should teach our children tolerance and how to embrace all different types of people. Our differences are what makes us human and unique. The world is complicated and sheltering children in schools of like color, like creed, like gender is not a true representation of the people that GOD put on this earth.

8 hours ago

*My Friend's Father* - "But I guess that "tolerance" does not get extended to people whose sincerely-held religious beliefs include the belief that Homosexuality is "intrinsically disordered". This is not some recet formulation of the dreaded religious right but the tradition of mainstream Christianity and Judaism for their entire existence. I do not favor segregation, racism, lynchings, etc. I do favor allowing parents to direct the upbringing of their children (a long-held right here in America).

*Friend 1* and Heather may argue that Congress knows better how to raise children than parents but they are wrong.

Allowing parents to choose what their children learn about sexuality and when is very different from the broad question about allowing people to choose to have an abortion. Unfortunately, that (abortion) is a choice now available in America but I think it is in 99% of situations -- a very bad choice.

One more time, I think my children benefit from their contact with other children, no matter what their race, religious belief, disability or national origin.

I do not believe all children are prepared to discuss gender identity conflicts before they can read or maturely participate in the discussion. I do not believe children of that age are ready to make choices about smoking, drinking alcohol, using a salt shaker etc.

It is not about discrimination, it is about parental rights. Read Wisconsin v.Yoder for more on parental rights."

6 hours ago

*Me* - " [*Friend 1* and Heather may argue that Congress knows better how to raise children than parents but they are wrong.] This statement is incorrect.

I'm not debating the actual "issue" here in the video. I'm discussing the discriminatory behavior towards transgendered people. Everyone is entitled to their views, but I understand that there is no rational way to discuss them when religion becomes involved in an argument, so I'm going to leave it alone. I care about my friendship with *my friend* too much to keep posting walls of text."

2 minutes ago ·

Ah...ignorance and bigotry in the morning. What a way to start the day.