We're now being told that we may not discriminate on the basis of a person's "sexual identity" or "gender expression". These terms are undefined. They can mean whatever a person or group wants at any given time. Prepare for chaos. Case in point:
In New Jersey, Herb wanted to become Kerri. So, the male middle-school teacher in New Jersey is returning to his school in the fall following "gender reassignment surgery." He thinks he is now a woman, and everyone else is expected to think that too. Including middle-school age children.
Let's get real. "Sexual identity" and "gender expression" are never going to be something only adults deal with. There's no way of avoiding young children's involvement. Do we really want them to ponder penile inversion surgery? Many of us have confronted staff in stores or restaurants who are either cross-dressing or surgically altered people. It's a very unnatural and disturbing thing, if for adults then obviously much more so for children.
How can we comprehend all this talk and acceptance of such bodily mutilation? Why is it that there's common horror when breast cancer necessitates breast removal, yet we let BAGLY tell our girls it's something they might want to consider for the sake of their "gender expression"? (Should we start telling women suffering from breast cancer that it's no big deal?)
What difference does it make if a woman has breasts or not? What difference does it make whether a man has a penis or not? Of course, Herb thought he was a "woman", not a "man". And a lot of people encouraged him in that thinking. So he gets a little silicone here, a little tissue removal and carving out there. And we tell our children everything's fine, and they shouldn't be upset or sickened.
No, we won't go there. People like Herb (and his supporters) need serious help, and it's not surgical.
From the New Jersey Star-Ledger, 8-2-05:
"She was a good teacher as a man," said Marisa Dodge, a fellow teacher at Mountain View and co-president of the local teacher's union. "She will be a good teacher as a woman."
The district could not fire her based on her gender, given that state anti-discrimination laws apply to transgender people, said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
State advocacy groups said McCaffrey will become New Jersey's first openly transgender teacher in several decades. The first was Paul Monroe Grossman, a Bernards Township transgender high school teacher who had a sex change in 1971.
"I can't imagine a more courageous role model for students than a member of the transgender community," said Steven Goldstein, chairperson of Garden State Equality, a group that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. "I have no doubt (McCaffrey) will be a statewide or possibly a nationwide figure."
