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Maine Commission Moves to Ban Gender Specific Bathrooms, Sports Teams in Schools
Submitted by anthony on Fri, 2010-04-09 22:08
Article here. Excerpt:
'The Maine Human Rights Commissions taking heat over a proposal to ban schools from enforcing gender divisions in sports teams, school organizations, bathrooms and locker rooms, saying forcing a student into a particular room or group because of their biological gender amounts to discrimination.
The issue came to light last year when the commission ruled that, under the Maine Human Rights Act, a school had discriminated against a 12-year-old transgender boy by denying him access to the girls' bathroom.
Now the commission aims to issue guidelines on how schools should deal with similar situations in the future. It would make Maine the first state to implement such guidelines for schools as young as preschool and nursery -- and even some private schools.
...
"When we separate biology it gets very confusing for everyone," Mike Heath, president of the American Family Association of New England, told FoxNews.com. "Now we're talking about bathrooms where ladies will entertain the possibility of men being in the restroom with them, and every woman I've talked to has indicated that they wouldn't be comfortable with that."
...
"There's not a whole lot of places a girl can expect privacy, but the bathroom should be one of them," said Celeste. "And there's not a whole lot of places a boy expects privacy, but the bathroom should be one of them. Married couples close the door when they go to the bathroom.”
...
Ken Trump, President of National School Safety and Security Services, says the guidelines set out in the commission's draft brochure pose some serious safety issues as well.
"If my kid walks into a girls' bathroom and sees a man in there, the child is going to instinctively feel that something’s wrong. If you create an entirely new climate where anything goes, you’re going to create increased confusion, and those with ill intentions could take advantage of that confusion and decreased ability to make a distinction," Trump told FoxNews.com.'
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Comments
Ridiculous
The bathroom piece, anyway. Unisex sports, etc... fine. But bathrooms? I am down with the comments people have made, but also quickly point out the concerns have all been about the girls or women. Plenty of men would prefer not to have people of the opposite sex around when they are in a bathroom. And as for dangers to men, there are many, including false accusations of sexual misconduct, or men themselves can be victims of the same. But as usual, the objections are female-interest-oriented instead of everyone-oriented.
experimental but interesting...
I loved it when on the tyra banks show ( don't ask...), one of the Williams girls, the tennis player, started talking about womens tennis champions deserving equal pay to the men. I knew that was discrimination because they were no longer looking simply at who brought in the money but at gender. Then I thought if you really want equality don't have separate competitions. We all know the Williams wouldn't get anything that way and that regardless of pay they get to play while many people (guys) far better then her don't.
What maine is talking about is radical but could something like un -sexed everything theoretically work?
Fox has a point in that we do need clear rules but then resorts to the common scare tactics like little Susy might get molested which ignores the reality. Molestation happens to boys too and usually not from strangers.
Simple concept bad outcome
The concept is to move to the lowest common demonitator, and force everyone to accept the situation. A 12 year old transgender boy caused this situation? Me thinks that there is a foul smell in the air, one that is becoming to foul to breath. I fail to see how a confused 12 year old boy should be allowed to use the girls restroom. I would hold accountable the people that were counseling this child, and using him as a political tool, what shame!
David A. DeLong
This is transgender rights
The 12 year old transgender is what concerns me the most.
I think this story has more to do with gay and transgender rights than men's rights.
This is about a small minority group of people (transgenders, transvestites, etc.) that feel uncomfortable using their designated gender's bathroom so they are trying to change the rules which will make the majority of people uncomfortable.
I think the majority of male and female students would prefer to have things stay the same with each gender having designated private areas for taking care of nature, dressing, etc. I did not interpret this as a women vs. men issue or comments favoring women or anything like that (both genders are equally free to leave comments and share their concerns)
As far as sports goes: After puberty, boys and girls should have separate teams for the sake of safety and competitiveness. I do not care how much surgery, drugs, etc a male takes to try and LOOK female. HE IS STILL A MALE!!! His DNA will say so; and such men should not play on women's teams.
If the school cannot accommodate this student to his liking, then perhaps he should not attend the school (there are many kids that have disabilities that make it impossible to attend school) although it seems like he should be able to use the nurses bathroom or other reasonable accommodations. Expecting all schools in Maine to change to unisex bathrooms, locker rooms, teams, etc is ridiculous.
How many transgenders (or hermaphrodites,etc.) can there be in the public school system in Maine, couldn't they just take it on a case-by-case basis?
PS- "...a 12 year old transgender..."???!! That blows me away. That means he has already had his male organs removed, right?
Sports Teams
As far as sports goes: After puberty, boys and girls should have separate teams for the sake of safety and competitiveness.
I disagree. There is no reason to have separate teams based on gender. Girls/women should not be given a free ride or special treatment (separate teams) just because they are female. If a girl/woman doesn't have the athletic talent to compete. Tough luck. If she isn't big enough, fast enough, tall enough, then too bad for her. Those are exactly the same rules I've had to follow all my life.
I wasn't good enough to play high school varsity football or baseball. Tough luck for me. I could never qualify for an athletic scholarship. My problem. I'm 5'7''. Think I can make it in the NBA? Not likely. No one went around kissing my butt because I lacked high-level competitiveness or the fact I would have been killed on a big name football team. The same applies for 99.9% of all men.
Now, none of this means I was denied the opportunity to compete in sports. In fact, I'm very athletic and have played in a lot of sports. While I'll never get the chance to "run through the tunnel" in the Olympic marathon, at 50, I can still beat 90-95% of the participants in a running race or a bicycle race up a mountain. I simply compete at my own level. Girls/women should not be held to higher or lower standards.
If you want to segregate by ability, fine. But there is no reason to segregate by sex (or race). People of the same ability should be treated the same.