School challenge: Transgender student is age 9

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | May 3, 2008 | Joelle Farrell and John Sullivan

[End Times Sentinel]

For school officials in Haverford Township, the challenge was daunting: What do you do when a 9-year-old student, with the full support of his parents, decides that he is no longer a boy and instead is a girl?

Parents of a third-grade student at Chatham Park Elementary School approached the administration on April 16 to ask for help in making a "social transition" for their child.

(Excerpt) Full story: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/20080503_School_challenge__Transgender_student_is_age_9.html The Haverford School District consulted experts on transgender children, then sent letters to parents advising them that the guidance counselor would meet with the school's 100 third-grade students to explain why their classmate would now wear girls' clothes and be called by a girl's name.

Some parents objected. Eight called the principal to ask that their child not attend the session, and some posted angry messages on the Haverford Township blog.

"Why is the school introducing this subject to 8- and 9-year-olds?" wrote the parent who started the blog thread, which had been viewed more than 3,000 times as of yesterday. "Why were we not notified sooner. We received the letter today, the discussion at school is tomorrow."

[Sweet Hour of Prayer]

“I’d say speak to his parents, but they are probably lefties so it would be like speaking to a 9 year old.”

I wonder if his parents are biologically his parents. We could be looking at a non-traditional family as well. I did note that the parents names were omitted, I doubt that was by accident.

Nine year olds aren’t mature enough to make these decisions. The school is just making it easier for parents to leave public education. I’d hate to be a teacher at that school.

[Proverbs 3-5]

Kid, you've got a "pee-pee"...Deal with it.

Apparently his father has no 'nads...

[Proverbs 3-5]

Kid, you've got a "pee-pee"...Deal with it.

Apparently his father has no 'nads...

[Hyzenthlay]

His parents are taking this too far. When my little sister was that age, she was a tomboy, and she thought she was ‘meant to’ be a boy, and dressed in my brother’s hand-me-downs, and she played sports and did ‘boy’ stuff. Eventually, she grew out of it, and now she’s a more or less normal teenage girl, she’s got a boyfriend, she’s excited about going to prom and wearing her prom dress and getting Converse to match her dress (I guess that’s some new fashion thing, but I’ve even considered black and white Converse to go with my suit).

[Antoninus]

These parents need to be horse-whipped.

If the child has a pee-pee and XY chromosomes, he's a boy.

Somebody should check this family. I'm sensing sex abuse.

[Antoninus]

Here's the crux of the matter from the end of the article:

Some medical experts think parents should not let a child change gender roles at a young age.

Paul McHugh, a psychiatrist and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studied sexual reassignment surgery in the 1970s, said a school's decision to support a student's transition could have long-term psychological consequences.

"They do not have a right to stop the child, but it's different when they gather everyone around and say, 'Johnnie is Jeanie,' " he said. Society, he added, should not support the decision of an immature person.

There is no evidence that the transition ultimately helps the person, he added.

McHugh said he reached his conclusions after studying the issue for 30 years, especially in the 1970s, when Hopkins was pioneering sexual-reassignment surgery.

"People came to us saying that if we changed them, we'd solve all their problems," he said. "So we changed them, and their problems remained."

[Antoninus]

Also from the end of the article...

Garcia says letting her child dress and act as a girl was the right decision.

"I went from a suicidal child to a child who tries out for a lead part in the play," she said. "I knew society wasn't going to be accepting, but my choices were, do this and have a happy, alive girl or have an unhappy, dead boy. So we did what we needed."

These parents are the problem. They remind me of Ned Flanders's beatnik parents on the Simpsons: "We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas."

[donna]

Synonyms: “American schools” and “Sodom and Gomorrha”

[wbill]

“I’ve decided I’m a goldfish”.

Last Night, WBill Jr. informed me that "He was a shark!" and started to "swim" around the bathtub.

Sometimes, he's a crocodile, too.

Perhaps there's some sort of program for toddlers that are "species-challenged". Maybe I can get a government grant out of it.

[Antoninus]

The child could be intersexed, have some chromosomal problem. My uncle had klinefelter syndrome—he was XXY, meaning he had an extra X chromosome. I’ve read about people who are mosaics—a blending of two embryos into one person. It goes un-noticed if the two embryos are of the same gender, but when they are opposite gender it creates obvious issues.

Sure, that's possible. If the kid were a hermaphrodite or an XXY, that would be a different story. There's no indication of that here, though. He just "feels like" he's a girl. Psychobabble at it's worst.

I'm betting this kid has been sexually abused.

[Antoninus]

9 years old? I was busy blowing up models with firecrackers and M80s. My how things have changed.

Scary. You're like my alter-ego. Did you ever try using a wrist-rocket to sink a model of the Arizona in a back-yard pond?

[Antoninus]

Can you become “transracial”? Live your life as the member of another ethnicity or skin color?

Sure, all you got to do is look at how many hippie retreads live on Indian reservations as Grey Wolf Karpinkski or Eagle Feather McFarland.

[wbill]

My unsolicited 2c?

I was talking a coworker the other day. I had just taken my (unquestionably male) toddler to a tractor museum and he had an absolute blast.

CoWorkers remark? "At least he's not gay."

I must've looked perplexed, because she called over to a second coworker - who, while being a nice enough guy to work with, could give flaming queen lessons to Liberace - and said "Hey (guy)....did you like to mess with big greasy smelly dirty Steam-powered tractors when you were a kid?"

His response? "Uck! Why would I want to do that?" She just smiled and rested her case.

I'm looking forward to blowing up models with firecrackers with WBill Jr. It'll be awhile, but all too soon at the same time.

[vpintheak]

This child and many like him/her has a mental defect, plain and simple.

[DesertSapper]

Morally corrupt parents producing a confused child. Might as well chalk this kid up on the LOST column.

[hepatoma]

I think it’s a little unfair to blame the parents. I’m pretty sure they didn’t want this to happen. It could be biological/chromosomal. Someone mentioned Klinefelter’s as an example.

[longtermmemmory]

Munchausen (sorry about sp) syndrome.

Seems the mother must have wanted a girl and this is the net result.

[Question_Assumptions]

Your legal sex should correspond to your sexual plumbing. If you've got the plumbing of a boy and want to be a girl or vice-versa, than let the doctor change your plumbing or live with it. If you pee standing up, you don't belong in the little girl's room and if you can't use a urinal without disrobing, you don't belong in the little boy's room.

[Amendment10]

Deuteronomy 22:5 tells us that God despises cross-dressing. So this issue has the overtones of being a pagan-mentality attack on the image of God (Genesis 1:27), in my opinion.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Oh good answer! I was in line at my bank yesterday and realized an Emo was in front of me - “it” was all sad looking, with facial piercings gleaming in the harsh store lights - I had to walk away because I had an overwhelming feeling that I was going to start laughing.