Controversy swirls around local transgender college student
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OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A controversial decision by Evergreen State College officials to let a transgender student to use the women's locker room has brought up issues of civil rights, state laws and how best to protect children.
At the center of the issue is a 45-year-old student who was born a man but identifies as a woman. The student uses the women's locker room at the college's indoor pool. Angry parents contacted the police after a young girl saw the transgender student naked inside the locker room.
As a compromise, the college put up "privacy curtains" and allowed the transgender student to continue using the women's facilities.
"If it were my kid I would be absolutely outraged," said Joseph Backholm, director of the conservative non-profit Family Policy Institute of Washington. " (Parents) have the reasonable expectation that there are not going to be naked men or people that their daughters believe are naked men -- however they see themselves -- in that restroom."
Some on campus are outraged by college's decision, while others say it's a matter of equal rights.
"The college has to follow state law," said Evergreen spokesman Jason Wettstein. "The college cannot discriminate based on the basis of gender identity. Gender identity is one of the protected things in discrimination law in this state."
But the law says otherwise, argues Arizona-based religious liberties group Alliance Defending Freedom. The group sent a letter to the college warning it may be held liable if something happens in the locker room.
For now, the college will not change the policy. Officials admit the locker room curtains aren't perfect, but say they do address the privacy concerns of those involved.
At the center of the issue is a 45-year-old student who was born a man but identifies as a woman. The student uses the women's locker room at the college's indoor pool. Angry parents contacted the police after a young girl saw the transgender student naked inside the locker room.
As a compromise, the college put up "privacy curtains" and allowed the transgender student to continue using the women's facilities.
"If it were my kid I would be absolutely outraged," said Joseph Backholm, director of the conservative non-profit Family Policy Institute of Washington. " (Parents) have the reasonable expectation that there are not going to be naked men or people that their daughters believe are naked men -- however they see themselves -- in that restroom."
Some on campus are outraged by college's decision, while others say it's a matter of equal rights.
"The college has to follow state law," said Evergreen spokesman Jason Wettstein. "The college cannot discriminate based on the basis of gender identity. Gender identity is one of the protected things in discrimination law in this state."
But the law says otherwise, argues Arizona-based religious liberties group Alliance Defending Freedom. The group sent a letter to the college warning it may be held liable if something happens in the locker room.
For now, the college will not change the policy. Officials admit the locker room curtains aren't perfect, but say they do address the privacy concerns of those involved.
I am absolutely appalled by this video and the comments on it. This student is my friend. She is a dedicated, sweet, caring person who dedicates her life to trying to make the world a better place. She has spent countless hours helping to provide resources to help women all over the world (she is an Army Veteran, by the way; none of these rednecks seem to want to bring that up), and that facility was her sanctuary. She used it everyday and all we did was what every woman does in the locker room: we get into towels, sit and relax in the sauna and then shower and get dressed. Anyone who calls a WAR HERO a freak or a pervert is ignorant at best. She is an amazing person, and this has absolutely humiliated her! Leave her alone!
Most child molesters and rapists, are straight white males, look it up.
Society is under no obligation to cater to freaks.
If, as many have stated, this is not a gay issue, then can someone explain why it is the gay and gay sympathizers on here, feel the need to defend this transgender male?
There's something that really bugs me about this story, and it's not the ignorant way the TV news chooses to report "a man in the women's locker room", but something else. Firstly, I'm a post-op transsexual woman myself, for those not in the know, I've had all the relevant meds, the surgeries etc, if I we're to get naked in front of you, I look female. This transgender student is I presume, pre-op, ie still has the genitals they we're born with. Now here's one thing that bugs me. I wouldn't dare walk around the women's locker room naked while I was pre-op, for pretty obvious reasons. I don't want people finding out I'm trans that way, I don't want to risk being arrested even if no charges are pressed later, I simply don't want to risk that, I don't even want to do that now when I have the "right" parts, so why would the transgender student in the news article want to either? Secondly, how old is the girl that saw the trans student in question? Because it's implied, she's a young girl, pre-teen, and in that case, what is she doing at a college swimming facility without a parent or guardian? This is a COLLEGE swimming / changing room, and therefore should only really be occupied by adults over the legal age ie 18 / 21.
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Shower curtains are not the answer here. While the transgender student in question is pre-op, then I'm sorry, but you should be getting changed out of sight of other people for your benefit and the benefit of other people. The people objecting to this story, aren't trying to protect their kids either, they're just jumping on this story to perpetuate their pre-existing bigotry or people who are different to them. As for the college being liable if anything happens, if anything "happens" the perpetrator is the one that is liable you muppets.
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At my local leisure centre (so local it's across the road from me), there aren't any segregated changing areas, just single, double and family changing cubicles, and this works for everyone. This includes cubicles big enough for wheelchair users and a carer, and the carer is not always the same sex as the person they are a carer for.
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Is it just me, or has common sense seemed to have completely out the window here?
Privacy curtain is a good solution!Â
I don't care who you are or what you feel like you are, if you think you are a man, woman or billy goat, if you don't have the same parts as my "young daughter", I still don't want her to see your junk, or feel uncomfortable because you are showing your junk!
Did I miss something⦠I thought âTransgenderedâ means he/she now has the parts of the opposite sex they were born from. If thatâs the case why would there be an issue with this person in the locker room?   Itâs too bad we put so much emphasis and taboo on nudity and sex. Either way itâs a naked person. Itâs not the end of the world. No harm was done, and no crime was being committed to my knowledge. Â
 @DreamTravler Totes agree! Why all the uproar and scandal at...a naked body? Everyone's naked under their clothes!As far as what "transgender" means, it is a spectrum. The general terms are "pre-op" vs "post-op," which describe where someone is in their transition. It takes a long time to be approved for surgery/operations, so there are a lot of trans folks out there who haven't had any surgeries, and will have the genitals they were born with.
 @DreamTravler Then why have separate locker rooms??? He's 45, she is a "young girl". Let just have co-ed locker rooms.....better yet, let's not have locker rooms. Let's just all get naked in front of each other and let all see everything.
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@Karen Jones Thomas why does nudity have to be so taboo? I don't mind if any sex disrobes or gets dressed in front of me. Doesn't matter how old or young. It's just a person getting undressed. The situation in this artical seems odd to me. But my understanding of what transgendered means could be off. I thought it meant he/she had a sex change operation completed. Apparently I was wrong. While nudity is no big deal to me personally I would think you would go to the locker room that you currently have the equipment for.
 @heavyweather  @DreamTravler What was a 6 year old child doing un-acompanied in the changing rooms of a college swimming centre?
 @DreamTravler   A 6 year old child was in the locker room.  That's a very important element of this story.
may I ask why a child was in a sauna to begin with? And why isn't this person making sure they are properly covered up in a sauna?
Transgender individuals, whether pre-op or post-op, need to be accommodated and accepted by society. The medical science behind gender identity disorder is now firmly established. Re-stating the obvious: Nature screws up sometimes. So, simply hurling nasty comments because of "fear of the other" or "fear of the unknown" is ignorant, primitive and barbaric behavior. Instead, it would behoove Evergreen College and others to come up with informed guidelines, not least of which should be that every person should cover up and be discreet when changing in this sort of setting, regardless of their gender and the gender-nominal location they're in.
 @JB67 I think many  are not afraid of the actual transgendered people, but of supposedly "normal" perverts passing themselves as transgendered to get access to, or at least gawk at, young children.Â
And if all the parent of a six-year-old girl saw was the nude male body, and none of her female clothing or accessories, how would they even know it was a pre-op transgender woman?
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 @heavyweather  @JB67 Do we have all the facts of the story, or just the side of the complainent?
 @heavyweather There's nothing that I said that isn't factual. In fact, I didn't comment specifically on this individual. I wasn't there, I can't comment on that. Rather, I was responding to all the bile spewed towards transgender folks in general.

Correct me if I am wrong but it is illegal in most states to expose male genitals to females in a public place  that is considered lewd behavior and if done to a minor is a sex crime.   A penis has no place in a woman locker room. Find a better way to handle this situation than allowing our young children to be exposed to this.
Why is State law not based solely on what parts are present/missing? Until you are post-op, I don't think one is fully committed. Under the present state of affairs, virtually any male could claim the same "right" to hang out in the ladies room.
 @bagsofdirt it's not a case of commitment or not, you can't just walk into a hospital as one sex, and walk out the other the next day. It is an extremely long process, and expensive in the USA as it's not covered under medical insurance.
I would think if this man has to make a commitment to live as female, he would at all costs try and hide his male anatomy, and certainly not sit on display in a sauna, shower, where ever, Â with everything exposed for everyone to see.
@MC Because SHE is not ashamed of her body! She wants her operation but it's too expensive! She does not want to have to go into the men's locker room and be treated like a freak. That sauna is her safe zone, and to be told that she can't use it is wrong.
 @MC exactly, but this was a sauna? isn't everyone naked in a sauna?
 @Sarah Davis I think when one uses a sauna they have their private parts covered by a towel, I suppose if it is all female, or all male and one wants to sit around naked in front of everyone, that's up to them, however, it is not proper, no matter how you slice it, for a man with male anatomy to sit nude in a womens sauna.......period.......do you think that is acceptable? it matters not if a child was there or not, I'm assuming most women in a sauna don't appreciate a male in a female facility  sitting around in the nude, as for a child being in there unsupervised, I thought the article said the mother was with her, and these facilities are used by many different people, it is not just for those who go to college there, I don't know what sauna you go to, but again, if I were to be a pre-op male, who has to live like a female, but still have a penis, I certainly would not parade around naked in a public (female) facility, that is not living like a female just because you are in a female locker room, would you have a problem if it were a female pre-op hanging out in a mens room? I think not.
Especially in a female locker room/ restroom.
I worked with two transgender persons, One pre-op and one post-op. The post-op employee was prone to outbursts of anger because of the hormone therapy. She described in detail to coworkers how she has to sit around home with gauges in her man hole so it doesn't close up. It was brought to the attention of HR who jumped through hoops to accomadate this person. I can't legally take anabolic steroids. What's the difference?
 @IrishMike you're talking out of your manhole Mike
If you weren't born with a vagina, stay the heck out of the girls locker room. If you weren't born with a penis, stay the heck out of the men's locker room. It's that simple! Please use common sense, or at least try!
One problem with this whole thing is that if this 'guy' is allowed to use the women's locker room because he claims to be transgender, what is to prevent pedophiles from doing the same thing?  It is not a safe situation.
I feel like a monkey trapped in a man's body. Can I swing across the rafters at Evergreen and throw poop at people?
 @IrishMike I feel like a policeman trapped in a non-policeman's body.  Can I start pulling people over and writing traffic tickets?
Can you imagine being a young child, seeing an adult of opposite sex, naked, inside the same lockerroom you are in? Traumatizing and confusing at the same time. As a parent, I am disgusted with this particular incident. Not only does it open up an opportunity to allow pedafiles to use, but it is just morally wrong!
Totally not to offend, but coming from out of state, and from what the locals had told me, I had the impression that Evergreen was kind of a hippy-tree-hugger-Lesbian college. Â This place is the one that is having this issue?
@Lets_Use_Some_Sense Our graduates are some of the most influential, innovative, and ultimately succesful people in the world. The Princeton Review rated the institution as one of the top colleges that change lives. The fact that the college is standing it's ground to protect her is provides evidence of this. By not bowing to intolerance, we are showing our children not to hate people because they are different. The young student who saw her was from a local school; they had come to use our facilities.
 @Lets_Use_Some_Sense If you are an ultra conservative then that characterization is one you might come up with. A more accurate one would be a consistently high ranking liberal arts college that is a leader in environmental and public affairs education, offering team taught interdisciplinary academic programs to a diverse, multicultural community.
@WAmomof4 @Lets_Use_Some_Sense Pretty much.
But this is Washington state where everyone is embraced including out of state felons and illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Somilia, Iran, etc.
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Group hug everyone. Â Blur the lines. Â It's Washington state. Â It's what we are known for among the other states!
I was born and raised here in Washington state. For 40 years, I have called this place home, but it now feels as though my home is run down, uncomfortable and full of pests that can not be controlled. The landlord keeps raising my rates and adding extra fees every month. There is now concrete and houses where I use to play out in the open fields. Cars are everywhere and takes me 2 hours to go to town when it use to take us 45 mins.
WHAT HAPPENED to our happy little home? Depressing! I don't want to move, but all these changes and liberalism has made me re-think my options. God bless this state....it needs it!
Transgender people deserve rights but these should not come at the expense of the rights of girls and women to sex based protections. The vague and ill-defined way these laws are being written essentially allows any man to declare himself 'a woman' and access spaces designed to ensure the privacy and safety of females. This is simply outrageous. I think it's up to transgender people and authorities to develop legislation that balances the rights of transgender people with the hard won rights of females.
@Jay Very well said Jay!!! My thoughts exactly. This could be just another "opportunity" for a pedafile to use.
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I liked the old days 20-25 years ago where if the mens room was packed or stunk you just knocked on the ladies room door and if no one answered you used it. Â Nowadays that would be a sex crime. I'd rather go outside than use a public bathroom.
This guy is built like a man and therefore HE is a man so he shouldn't be using a womens / female locker room around little girls. The college should be held responsible for all children that go there and therefore held accountable for any trauma any experience as a result of this man showing his junk in a women's/female locker room. The school is wrong by letting this happen and might get sued over this matter.
Children do not got to college but adults do. Â At what age do these "children" you cite become adults, at age 50?
I guess you did not read the article.
Let me explain this article to you, Angry parents contacted the police after a young girl saw the transgender (MALE) student naked inside the womens / female locker room. As a compromise, the college put up "privacy curtains" and allowed the transgender (MALE) student to continue using the women's facilities showing his junk to the young girls. " (Parents) have the reasonable expectation that there are not going to be naked men or people that their daughters believe are naked men -- however they see themselves -- in that restroom." The article did not mention that the local high school uses the pool for swim meets and swim classes. The point is, This guy is built like a man and therefore HE is a man so he shouldn't be using a womens / female locker room around little girls.
Has anyone actually SEEN this law that uses the term "gender identity"?
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I find this man's behavior freakish and unconscionable, but I understand that we can't keep the world in a cocoon. Â We need to support homosexuals' right to wed because it doesn't impose on anybody else's rights. Â This issue, however, is completely separate because the indulgence of the individual imposes significantly on the comfort and well-being of the vast majority.Â
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As a liberal, I'm an enthusiastic advocate for social progress and consented sexual depravity, but I remain steadfastly opposed to a selfish individual disregarding the wishes of the the vast majority to placate their own oversized emotional needs.
based on the hateful comments on this news story, it sounds like us humans will do ourselves in on our own long before outside forces will.
 @BlueJedi sadly my conclusion precisely...of course we could always decide differently as well.
We have liberals who like abortion, the killing of unborn children, we have on the TV public airways homosexual activity, now we have the transgender.   Let's get it "straight" for all you women who do not want to see a naked man, this is your opportunity.  We have some freebees coming your direction.Â