final blog post

After this course, I now look at news more critically. I do not take everything at face value and I question the authority and expertise of each news source. I now realize that each news source directs different issues in different manners for each audience. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but now that I realize it, I am better able to understand the news. This also enhances the fact that it is very important to look up a story on multiple sites (blogs, news sources, etc.). By doing this, I am able to fully understand the story from differing points of view. I have also learned how to write for different audiences myself. This will certainly become useful outside of the college-sphere mainly because most of my writing in college is for one audience - professors.

Justice for Coy

Coy Mathis was identified as a male at birth, but since the age of 18 months, has insisted she is a girl. Since then, her parents, teachers and peers have accepted her transgender identity and have always referred to her as a girl as well as allowed her to use the girls bathroom. But this past December, her parents received a phone call from the principal of Eagleside Elementary School stating that Coy could only use the boys’ bathroom, the nurses’ bathroom or the staff bathroom. New York-based Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund attorneys[1] filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division on behalf of Coy’s parents Kathryn and Jeremy Mathis, because by denying her access to the girls’ bathroom Coy is being discriminated against. Coy is now being homeschooled and will continue to be until the legalities of her case are settled.

Coy’s story began on the local level first appearing in The Gazette, a Colorado Springs newspaper, on February 26^th. Carol McGraw wrote the first story about the legal case in her article titled “Complaint filed in case of 6-year-old transgender girl”. The story then went on to the Denver Post where Colleen O’Connor, P. Solomon Banda and the Denver Post Editorial Board all forwarded their own articles of the story. O’Connor attempted to present both sides of the story, that is those that are in favor of Coy’s use of the girls bathroom and those that are opposed. Banda wrote about how Coy and her family came to accepting her transgender identity. The Denver Post Editorial Board was very firm on their stance. In fact, they insinuate that there can’t be ‘two sides to this story’ and that the lawsuit is an unnecessary spectacle considering Colorado's anti-discrimination rules clearly state that transgender individuals shall be allowed to use the "gender-segregated facilities that are consistent with their gender identity."[2]

In less than a week, Coy’s story has been forwarded from local to national and even international news levels. National news sources such as Fox, CNN and ABC were all willing to weigh in on the issue, yet some more than others. Fox News was sure to publish a piece on this story but was disinclined to include many details. Their miniscule 124 word article titled “Colo. transgender girl can't use girls' bathroom at school; parents file complaint with state” which prohibits any comments is telling of just how much coverage Fox will allocate to this kind of issue and similar issues.[3] ABC took a great deal of effort in analyzing the details of the case as well as the effects discrimination can have on the transgender community in their article “Transgender Triplet Banned From Her First-Grade Restroom”.[4] In extensive detail, CNN explained the facts of Coy’s legal dispute, the school’s defense, the blurry line of what constitutes discrimination and the scope of the transgender community in their article “School’s transgender ruling: fairness or discrimination?”.[5]  Even The Daily Telegraph, which is a news source of the residents in Sydney, Australia, weighed in on the controversial issue. In their article “Transgender child Coy Mathis banned from using the girl’s bathroom at Colorado school”[6], The Daily Telegraph remained unbiased and factual throughout, considering they only quoted various other news sources. Their strategy seem to be to forward without adding any opinion.

In the very beginning articles, the authors focused on the facts of transgendered persons and Coy’s specific circumstance as well as her parent’s point of view. As time went on, stories began to include opposing opinions. For example, Aurora resident Karen Carter, was quoted in O’Connor’s article stating, “I don't want my 7-year-old girl going into a restroom with a boy.” She continued to say, “If this person has boy genitals, I don't think she needs to be in there with him." As the story has spread further, the main focus has become less about the civil rights of this 6-year old girl and more about the disbelief of her identified transgendered-ness. This is even more evident in the ‘comment’ sections of the articles.

            The issue is certainly controversial and no matter how objectively different news sources represent Coy’s story, there will always be an abundance of opinions. As the news spreads, many individuals are taking it upon themselves to counter the stance of Coy’s parents, Kathryn and Jeremy. Although some comments are in support the parent’s decision to let their daughter express her true gender-identity, the vast majority of comments counter this very idea. In response to O’Connor’s article in the Denver Post one comment alleged:

            This is NOT a little girl! He's a little boy who (according to his curiously PR savvy           parents) "identifies" as a little girl.

There are many other posts that sing along to that same tune and even go as far as to suggest the child should get gender reassignment surgery if she in fact really is a girl. Specifically, one comment in regards to the ABC article stated:

            Transgender means to cross, as in CHANGE GENDERS. Coy Mathis IS a boy. Why not             have the parents go and get the surgery right now for him so he can actually physically             turn into a girl. I mean let's really go the whole 9 yards shall we.

Gender reassignment surgery is not something to take lightly or even suggest and especially for male-female transsexuals at the age of 6. It is an extremely intense series of hormone injections, the removal and addition of private parts, and an extremely painful recovery. Some specifics include shaving the tracheal, breast augmentation and of course vaginoplasty in which the penis is removed, the urethra is rerouted and the extra skin is used to form the labia. These surgeries, if ever performed, would need to be done well after Coy has gone through puberty.

            Although this issue has become public, it was first presented as a civil rights issue. The intention of her parents was not to put her integrity, sexuality and genital region up for international discussion. People can’t seem to understand that gender and sexual reproductive parts do not always need to match in order to remain a functional (or legitimate) human being
            Luckily to straighten out the misunderstandings of many cigendered[7] [see definition below] people, CNN published an Opinion piece titled “Gender identity not just body parts”.[8] The author, Donna Rose, is a male-to-female transsexual and an advocate and spokesperson for transgender people and issues. In her piece she stated her opinion of the schools decision:

            It is unfortunate that Coy's school has not learned the lesson that so many other aspects of          our culture have already acknowledged, that a person's gender is more complicated than a    body part or a chromosome.

She also tries to resolve the misguided notions that a child cannot even know her gender at such a young age by stating:

            Part of being a child is developing your identity. School can teach you knowledge.             Society can teach you what it expects of you. But, once you develop a sense of yourself,        no one and nothing can tell you who you are. You come to know that -- to your core.

She goes on to say:

            When a child's sense of self develops in ways that are traditional and unremarkable,           nobody takes much notice. But when it happens in ways that challenge traditional norms          or expectations, people often try to "correct" it.

No matter how many articles similar to Rose’s are published, there will always be cigender people who refuse to understand or sympathize with the transgender.

            Some people have stated that, “It's possible the parents are publicity hounds. The welfare of their child appears to be secondary (since they are so willing to make a private matter public).” Regardless of the truth, Coy’s parent’s decision to make this lawsuit public could provide extreme headway for the rights of the transgender community. In McGraw’s article, Coy’s mother said she is telling her child’s story publicly because, “The more transgender issues are talked about the better it is. With awareness comes acceptance.”[9] On the other hand, it is unfortunate that gains must be made at the sacrifice of 6 year-old Coy’s childhood educational experiences. As noted in O’Connor’s article “Transgender 1st-grader must wait for ruling on use of school restroom”, Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund said, "Transgender rights will be America's next great civil rights struggle."

            So what happens next? Eagleside Elementary School must respond to the charge. Then the case will be assigned to a Civil Rights Division investigator. Both sides will be offered the chance to have voluntary mediation. If that is declined, the Civil Rights Division investigator will issue a ruling. Next a compulsory conciliation will occur, where the parents and the district will negotiate. Now, if for some reason the negotiation fails, the Civil Rights Commission will take over and could possible send the case onto an administrative judge.[10]

            As this story has progressed it has become clear that the majority of our society does not accommodate to transgendered persons. For example, there is no pronoun for a transgender person. We assign “he” or “him” to males who identify as males and “her” or “she” to females who identify as females. If not “he” nor “she”, we don’t have any other pronoun to assign to transgendered persons other than “it”. That alone is very telling of our society’s accommodation to transgendered persons. So, if only people could understand that allowing her to use the school’s girls bathroom is one of the many struggles Coy will face as she grows up in a world that values heteronormativity and cigendered persons. Throughout this mess, it seems that many people and news sources are forgetting she is only 6 years old. Hopefully this will all get resolved as quickly as possible for the sake of Coy, as previously noted, her life will be hard enough.

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[1] http://www.gazette.com/articles/transgender-151539-girl-year.html

[2] http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_22691781/school-wrong-transgender-girl?IADID=Search-www.denverpost.com-www.denverpost.com

[3] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/27/colo-transgender-girl-cant-use-girls-bathroom-at-school-parents-file-complaint/

[4] http://abcnews.go.com/Health/colorado-transgender-girl-banned-grade-school-bathroom/story?id=18607443&page=2

[5] http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/us/colorado-transgender-girl-school/index.html

[6] http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/transgender-child-coy-mathis-banned-from-using-the-girls-bathroom-at-colorado-school/story-fnddckzi-1226587491318

[7] cigender: a term used to describe people who, for the most part, identify as the gender they were assigned at birth.

[8] http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/opinion/rose-coy-transgender-children/index.html

[9] http://www.gazette.com/articles/transgender-151539-girl-year.html

[10] http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22684170/transgender-1st-grader-must-wait-ruling-use-school?IADID=Search-www.denverpost.com-www.denverpost.com