Feeling Angst For The Class of 2020

We are a few hours from me and other Houston-Harris County residents having to deal with a stay at home order starting at 11:59 PM CDT tonight. 

But instead of thinking about that, I find myself thinking about the younglings. The ones I'm specifically thinking about are the ones in the Class of 2020.

My own high school graduation was 40 years ago, and assuming the COVID-19 crisis has calmed down by the second week of October, I'm eagerly anticipating getting together with my JJ classmates for our 40th high school reunion.

Hollywood has frequently produced over the last few decades movies from The Breakfast Club to Cooley High to Fast Times at Ridgemont High and TV shows like Boy Meets World and Saved By The Bell that all have high school as a backdrop or as a major part of the story. 

So when you finally do get old enough to enter high school yourself, you have because of all those different depictions of high school life Hollywood style, all these heightened expectations as a high school freshman or sophomore because of it. 

On top of that is your parents reminiscing about their high school days as you begin to tackle navigating that new world and figuring out your place in it.

But back to talking about the class of 2020.

The reason I'm feeling some angst for them is because I remember what it was like to go through my own senior year and my excitement when the 1980 calendar page turned to May.  While I had my own challenges graduating while trans, I and my Class With Class schoolmates had waited three years for our turn to go through Senior Week after watching the Classes of 1978 and 1979 do so.

And it's why I feel sad for the Class of 2020.

Their senior year just abruptly ended with no Senior Week, no Senior Skip Day, no prom, and no graduation commencement ceremony with all their friends and extended family in attendance.

The Class of 2020 also gets no last day of high school to add an exclamation point to the reality that ready or not, a chapter of your life is closing, a new one is beginning, and you've  just gone through a rite of passage into young adulthood from your teen years.

For those Class of 2020 seniors involved in spring sports like basketball, baseball, track and field, tennis, wrestling and soccer, the pain is particularly acute.

While in Texas the girls managed to get their full state basketball tournament schedule done in San Antonio and crown champions from Class A to 6A, because the boys tournament happens a week later, that wasn't the case for them.

The boys got to play and complete one 3A semifinal game in San Antonio's Alamodome before the UIL made the reluctant call to shut down the rest of the boys state tournament.

Imagine how the 2020 senior kids feel who participate in spring sports that didn't get a chance to progress to state championships, or who may have been working on historic seasons for their schools when things were shut down.

If I was in a Class of 2020 member's shoes, I'd feel a little cheated, frustrated and mildly pissed off about how my senior year ended.

Deep down, my rational thinking self would note the fact we're in the uncharted territory of a worldwide pandemic, but my thoughts would still go back to we'd waited three to four years for our turn to bask in the glow of Senior Week, and now that's been shut down and ripped away from us. 

The gut punch to all of this is that you only go through high school once, and once this moment in time passes, that;s it.  It's gone as soon as you step off that high school campus for the last time. .

So yes Class of 2020,  I do feel your pain right now

ConGRADulations Trans Class of 2019

Now that we're in the middle of May, it's graduation time for many of the folks in our community who are getting that paper and the 'ejumacation' that is going along with it.

I wanted to take a moment to celebrate all you trans folks who are part of the Class of 2019 like my Louisville homegirl Amirage Saling    She's  not only receiving her degree in social work from the University of Louisville,  she also made a little history when she received the honor of carrying the Kent College of Social Work banner into the ceremony.

And just when you think Jazz Jennings couldn't be more awesome, now comes the news that she has been accepted to go to Harvard University in the fall!   Harvard Class of 2023 here she comes!

I also needed to show some love in this post to my BTAC forever King Sybastian Smith, who is also walking with his Georgia State University classmates and getting his degree.

Congrats to you as well Sybastian!   So proud of you!

Shout outs also go to you Trans Class of 2019 members who are moving from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school, high school to college, or college to postgraduate education.

Some of you like Charlie Baum, even made history while you were matriculating at your high schools..

Many of you Class of 2019 members have persevered despite enduring in some cases  unnecessary bullying and harassment aimed at you by parents, fellow students, teachers  and administrators   You continuing on your educational path will not only be a great benefit to yourselves personally,  but to our community.

ConGRADulations, Trans Class of 2019!   I salute you, and everyone who loves you also is celebrating the major milestone in your lives.  Can't wait to see what happens for all of you in the near future.

Rooting For Fort Bend Marshall

My high school alma mater was messed with by HISD to the point that it no longer has high school athletics on campus.  But I'm still a high school football fan, just not to the level I was when my beloved Jones Falcons were in the hunt for Texas high school football glory.   

Yesterday started the Texas high school football championship weekend here in the Lone Star State.  It's a smorgasbord of Texas high school football, with twelve title games from Class A (six man) to Class 6A being played at one location over the next four days. with all the games being broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest.

It also makes it easier for all the collegiate recruiters to check out players they either have signed during the NCAA early signing period or spot one they may not have noticed previously that is a late football bloomer.

The championship games location are rotated between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio because all three cities have domed stadiums, This year and in 2019, all the games will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington 

In Texas high school football and basketball, the top four teams in each district make the playoffs.  Two teams are placed in the Division I playoff bracket, and the other two in the Division II bracket based in enrollment.

I'm always rooting for Houston area teams that make it to the title game in their class, and this year is no different.

The highly anticipated Class 6A Division I game on Saturday night has undefeated Galena Park North Shore (15-0) who rolled over perennial powerhouse Katy in their usual clash at NRG Stadium and also beat them in the regular season.   The Mustangs try to complete their perfect season against unbeaten DFW area homeboys Duncanville (14-0), who beat top 5 nationally ranked Allen in their march to the finals. 

In the Class 6A Division II game Saturday afternoon Beaumont West Brook (13-2) will take on unbeaten perennial East Texas high school powerhouse Longview (15-0).

In the Class 6A Division I game it's a clash of the unbeaten old versus the new kids on the playoff block.   The Highland Park Scots, the team with the most wins in Texas high school football history, that has played in some legendary games still talked about among Texas high school football fans, and is the alma mater of Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford, takes on Alvin Shadow Creek. 

The Sharks are playing their first year of varsity football, and are trying to attempt the feat their district mates Manvel failed to accomplish by winning a state championship in their first year of play.

The game I'll definitely be watching is taking place on Friday night in Class 5A Division II.
Unbeaten Fort Bend Marshall (15-0), who made a deep playoff run last year but fell short, tries to capture its first state title against (15-0) Aledo.  The Bearcats were upset in the state title game last year against College Station, and are looking to avenge that loss at Marshall's expense.

Aledo has more than few UIL championship trophies in their school trophy case, having won six state football titles in the last nine years.

Marshall is not only trying to complete an unbeaten season, they are trying to do so while grieving the loss of  their senior teammate Drew Conley days before their semifinal playoff game.

Conley was murdered by his uncle, and five days later the Buffs pulled out an emotional game against Corpus Christi Calallen last week 19-17 to punch their ticket to the Jerrydome.

The other reasons I'm rooting for Marshall is the school is named for the eminent Supreme Court justice, and their school colors are the same black, gold and white my Falcons wore.

The Buffs were recently visited by Houston Texans DB Tyrann Mathieu for a motivational speech.

We'll see if it worked for the Buffs tomorrow night at 7 PM.   Go Buffs!  Do it for Drew.  Bring that Class 5A Division II title back to the Houston area!.

TransGriot Update:  They hung with them for a quarter, but Aledo unfortunately beat Marshall 55-19 

Dale Hansen Unplugged- Mack Beggs

Whenever I'm in the Dallas-Ft Worth area and have time to watch the local news there, I tune into WFAA-TV 8 so I can watch Dale Hansen's sports reports and his 'Hansen Unplugged' commentary.  

Yesterday he commented on Euless Trinity trans wrestler Mack Beggs' Texas Class 6A girls wrestling state championship in his weight class and the stuck on stupid UIL trans athletic policy that led to it.

Beggs because of the lack of UIL vision and their transphobia, was forced to despite being on testosterone for his transition and he and his family asking he allowed to wrestle against boys, forced by UIL bureaucrats to wrestle against girls.

That lack of UIL vision led to Beggs undefeated 56-0 championship season that shined a glaring spotlight on how unfair the UIL policy was to all concerned.   It will hopefully lead the UIL idiots in Austin to change it to mirror the more progressive NCAA standards.  

Here's Dale Hansen's commentary on Mack Beggs..

 

Mack Beggs Is The Texas Class 6A State Wrestling Champ!

Good luck Mack!.  Hope you leave the area with a historic state title win, and next year the UIL comes to its senses and allows you to wrestle against boys as you wish to do.
-TransGriot

And the first part of that statement is exactly what happened.

Mack Beggs is the 2017 Texas Class 6A state wresting champion in his 110 pound weight class after winning his girls championship match 12-1 against Chelsea Sanchez of Katy Morton Ranch HS to cap off an undefeated season.

That's not a typo.   The Texas Class 6A Girls state wrestling champion in his 110 pound weight class.

The 'Mack Attack' would have rather done so in the 6A boys division and been on the Trinity HS boys team.   UIL policy forces Texas trans athletes to compete based on the birth certificate gender marker and not their gender presentation.  

They denied the Trinity HS junior his request to compete in the boys division, and the result is the lousy no-win optics for him, his fellow competitors, and the UIL as he rolled through an undefeated 56-0 season to a state title.

Mack is also on testosterone as part of his gender transition, and that was also permissible because Mack was taking it for medical reasons, and his testosterone was below the allowed limit.

The UIL is still trying to defend the indefensible transphobic rules they put in place, and claim there's 'no interest' in changing the rules that allowed this messed up situation to happen in the first place.

But the UIL needs to join us in the 21st century and base high school athletic competition for Texas trans kids on gender presentation and not their birth certificate.

It's either the UIL come to that realization on their own or have the change forced upon them by legal action.

Moni's In The Middle Of The JJ Alumni Picnic

From time to time I get to pop my collar about my high school alma mater Jesse H Jones and The Class With Class, AKA the Class of 1980.

So proud of the rich history of my school.  Actress Jo Beth Williams, HPD"s first female police chief Elizabeth Watson, NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green, former NBC White House correspondent Rosalind Jordan, NFL baller Alfred Williams, NBA ball player Daniel Gibson, Texas State Board of Education member (and my classmate) Lawrence Allen, former HISD bard member Ron Franklin, staffer for Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) Rachelle O'Neal, and former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson.

So as a Falcon, I have a towering legacy to live up to.    

The 4th annual alumni picnic was Sunday at Christia Adair Park, and for once my globetrotting behind was in town for a JJ class event.   I was there when it started at noon.  It was also taking place during the 35th reunion weekend of the JJ Class of 1981.

I definitely had a better day than the Texans and Donald Trump did.

In addition to seeing many of my Class With Class classmates, there were people from the Jesse H. Jones Classes of 1973 all the way to the Class of 2007 that I enjoyed meeting.   I also enjoyed either meeting or reconnecting with people from the Classes of 78-82 which was the time I was walking JJ's halls.

While there was a barbecue dinner offered and served in the Adair Park barbecue pavilion that was prepaid or paid for on site, the various class tent clusters (Class of 1980 had a cluster of six tents) had different food available from barbecue to fish

There was good times, trash talking domino games, music from the 70s to the 2k's thanks to our DJ,  reminiscing about our days walking JJ's halls, thinking about the classmates who are now Falcons Soaring Above The Clouds, and the always entertaining Parade of Classes that started around 4 PM in which people from that class year marched to the covered pavilion to a song from their JJ class year.

And this march with my classmates was a lot more fun than the one we did on May 20, 1980 at the Astroarena.

Thanks to the alumni picnic committee that spent six months putting this amazing event together and were there at 6:15 AM setting this up   I was happy to be there and can't wait to see what happens at the 5th annual picnic in 2017.

Congratulations Landon!

I and your trans elders are proud of you members of the Trans Class of 2016, and know that over time, you will do amazing things that will continue to justify our faith in investing in your success.   
-TransGriot, August 22, 2015

Well, it didn't take long for a member of the Trans Class of 2016 to make some trans history.

Meet Landon Patterson.  The Oak Park High School senior found out during halftime of her school's September 12 homecoming game with William Chrisman High School that her classmates had chosen her as their school's homecoming queen.

"Just knowing that I did this and broke some barriers, I can't put it into words how I feel right now," Patterson Said in am interview. "I'm just excited and hope it's going to help others put there." .

Landon has dreamed about this moment of riding in the homecoming parade as the homecoming queen since her freshman year, but she doubted that her classmates would see her as female.

She transitioned during her junior year, was an active member of her school's show choir and Oak Park's cheerleading squad, and her classmates made it clear how they viewed Landon by voting her as their homecoming queen.

Her mom Debbie Hall;proudly rode next to her in the homecoming parade as she stated to local media she saw no other option but to support her child.

That's my child. You have to back your children. The haters out there, I just want to say, 'What would you say if it was your child?'" Hall said.

Congrats Landon!    Hope the rest of your senior year goes as wonderfully as your day being named your school's homecoming queen did. 

Racism Rears Its Pointed Hooded Head At TX HS Basketball Game

Some of us in the Lone Star State sarcastically refer to North Texas, because of its proximity to the madness in the Sooner State, as Baja Oklahoma.

Much of the state house and senate legislative representation in that part of the state is unfortunately Tea Klux Klan, and we all know how racist the Tea Party is.

It seems that the Tea Party racism pimped by FOX Noise, the Tea Party and right wing talk radio to their parents is filtering down to the younglings.

At a boys basketball game played on February 13 between Flower Mound HS and Plano East last Friday that went into triple overtime, some nekulturny Flower Mount HS knuckleheads held up 'White Power' signs that were spotted by the visiting Plano East players and their fans.

“I saw ... [the signs] during the game, and I just didn’t think anything of it until I heard ... [a] racial slur at the free throw line,” Plano East junior player Devin Gifford said in an interview. “I didn’t say anything; I just let students be students.”.  

Gifford posted the photo of the signs on Twitter with the caption, “This is ridiculous I thought we passed the racial stage of society.”

Sadly Kevin, we still haven't evolved to become the beloved community that the Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr talked about.and we have a lot of work to do to get there.

While Flower Mound administrators quickly confiscated the offensive signs, they were still up long enough for them to be photographed, posted and subsequently commented about on social media.  

Flower Mound's head coach issued an emphatic condemnation of the incident via Twitter, and Lewisville ISD Interim Superintendent Kevin Rogers issued this written statement yesterday.

As Interim Superintendent of a very diverse school district and community, I have been involved with our internal investigation regarding the unfortunate occurrence at Friday night’s Flower Mound High School vs. Plano East varsity boys’ basketball game. I want to be clear that this type of incident – however it has been perceived – has not and will not be tolerated in LISD. We have always had high expectations for our more than 53,000 students and hold them to those standards both in and outside of the classroom.

As we stated yesterday, the investigation of this occurrence is still underway, and we fully intend to act on our findings. We regret that this unfortunate event has been elevated to this level on so many social media circles.

I am disheartened that the perceived actions of a few may reflect poorly on two great schools – Flower Mound and Plano East High Schools – school districts and communities. Ultimately, please know we have the highest respect for the students, staff and community of Plano East High School.

The game was a75-73 Flower Mound win, but nobody will remember that this triple overtime boys varsity basketball tilt was considered one of the best games of the 2014-15 Texas high school basketball season.  

This reprehensible incident has overshadowed the result of the game, and has once again in the wake of similar racist incidents at high school games in other parts of the country, shined a necessary spotlight on race and race relations in the US and the lack of societal progress in solving the problem.

Atherton HS Gender Identity Inclusive Nondiscrimination Policy Still Stands

Back in May Atherton High School's site Based Decision Making Committee added gender identity to the school's non discrimination policy.

Because the policy allows trans students to use the restroom based on their gender identity and presentation, predictably the local haters in Da Ville went to work trying to overturn it.

After failing at the Atherton SBDM Committee level to do so it went to a JCPS  appeal board hearing.

The SBDM Appeal Board was comprised of four teachers selected by the union, two parents selected by the PTSA and one principal selected by the Administrators Association.

There's good news to report.  By a 6-1 vote the appeal to rescind Atherton's addition of gender identity to their non-discrimination policy was defeated!  

As for the breakdown on the vote, the four teachers and the two parents voted to deny the appeal with the principal from Central High School voting for it.

So happy to hear that.   It's a big win not only for the gender variant students that attend Atherton but all students on the campus..

Okay JCPS School Board, now it's time for you to handle the business you should have handled back in 2007 and pass a district wide addition to your non-discrimination policy that includes gender identity

Louisville High School Has Trans Drama

Back when I lived in Louisville as a Texan in exile, one of the fights I was involved in was a 2007 battle with the JCPS school board to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the JCPS nondiscrimination school board policies for students and employees.

To my dismay gender identity was stripped out of it in committee.   After some contentious public hearings the gender identity free policy passed on a 4-3 vote. 

I warned at the time the issue of transpeople in JCPS was not going to go away and it was better to be proactive about it than reactive.   JCPS superintendent Sheldon Berman claimed during the committee hearing in which gender identity was stripped out of the proposed additions to the JCPS non discrimination policy, that gender identity issues were 'too new' despite the presence of moi and a newly out trans teacher present to suggest otherwise..   

Now that lack of forward vision by the JCPS board is popping up seven years later.

A freshman Atherton High School trans feminine student recently asked AHS Principal Thomas Aberli for permission to use the girls facilities.   He granted permission for the trans student to do so, and seven cis feminine students immediately complained along with their parents at the Highlands area school.

Atherton was named to US News and World Reports list of Best High Schools in the US in 2013 and is the only public HS in Louisville with an International Baccalaureate program.

This has now blown up into a kerfluffle that will involve the Atherton Site Based Decision Making Committee with a meeting being held later today at 2:45 PM EDT to discuss adding gender identity to the school's non discrimination policy.  

It also makes crystal clear just how shortsighted the 2007 JCPS board decision to not address gender identity and be proactive in creating policies to cover thedistrict's trans students and JCPS employees was. 

"I have a responsibility to ensure that all of our students and staff are treated fairly and justly," Aberli said in a recent interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal. "At the same time, I also have a responsibility to educate our community on an issue that many are not familiar with and inform them about the rights of transgender individuals."

Chris Hartman, the director of Louisville's Fairness Campaign, said allowing a transgender student access to gender-specific restrooms is important not only for basic civil rights, but also for the safety of the trans student.

“A great deal of violence and sexual assault against transgender people, in general, and transgender youth occurs in restrooms,” he said.  “When we are talking about restroom accommodations being important it is about safety of all students and in particular the trans students.”

Dawn Wilson, member of the Metro Louisville Human Relations Committee had this to say in a statement. "As Education Chair of the Metro Louisville Human Relations Commission, I find it important that we show support for the students and the school; while urging the school board to adopt all aspects of the Metro anti-discrimination ordinances as a system wide policy rather than have school based decisions. This is the path we must tread."

Atherton High School's motto is Scholarship, Service and Self Respect.   Hope they, the AHS community and other interested parties keep that motto in mind when they conduct the SBDMC meeting later today.

TransGriot Update:  The meeting had several hundred people in attendance pro and con, and the policy passed.  

ConGRADulations Trans Class of 2014

You may even make a little history in the process since as of yet we have never had to my knowledge an out transperson become a homecoming queen, prom king or high school class president.
-TransGriot, June 8, 2013, 'Trans Class Of 2014, Start Planning Now To Beat Your Trans Oppressors'


Has it been almost a year since I wrote that post?.   Obviously it has since I have another birthday coming in three days.  

Congratulations Trans Class of 2014, you did make some trans history in this 2013-14 school year.   Cassidy Lynn Campbell wasn't a member of this class, but became the first ever out trans feminine homecoming queen when she was elected by the Marina HS student body back in September.  

Meanwhile the first out trans homecoming king in New Hampshire also happened this year with the landslide election of  Ray Ramsey at Concord HS.
 

We also had the first ever out African-American trans masculine homecoming king happen just in time for Black History Month when Blake Brockington accomplished that feat at East Mecklenburg High School 

However, we did have some situations in which the haters came out to play.    Cassidy's haters and cyberbullies included right wing talk radio hosts like Bryan Fischer.  Kasey Carron didn't even get the opportunity to run for homecoming king because his Johnston, PA school district refused to let him do so.   Hopefully they will at least let him walk in the male cap and gown. 

Down in the Rio Grande Valley Jeydon Loredo had to fight the transphobic LaFeria ISD with the legal help of the Southern Poverty Law Center just to get his male senior picture added to the yearbook.

And as usual, just in time for prom season we had the situation crop up of potentially problematic prom rules in the DeSoto ISD.   In the New York City borough of Queens, senior Anais Celini is not being allowed by her private high school to take her trans boyfriend to her May 22 prom.

And how many trans students in the Class of 2014 will have to fight just to wear the cap and gown that properly reflects their gender identity and expression?

Trans Class of 2015, just as I advised this year's seniors to start preparing now to come up with their game plans to beat your trans oppressors, you have a few months to do the same.    And there is still trans hsitory yet to be made on many of your campuses.   I'd love to see the first Black transfeminine homecoming and prom queens happen.   Trans student body presidents.  Trans valedictorians.   

But conGRADulations Trans Class of 2014.   Much love to you for accomplishing this major life goal and may you have continued success as you continue to climb the educational ladder or take those first daunting steps toward taking the world beyond your college campuses.

DeSoto ISD Posts Problematic Prom Dress Code

Well Trans* Class of 2014, I did warn y'all last June to be ready to fight your trans oppressors.   And word to the wise Trans* Class of 2015, you may want to start prepping now so you have a stress free senior year.   

In the eight years I've been chronicling the events of the trans community on this blog, one of the things you'll note as you peruse my archives is the frequent fights between trans students and transphobic school administrations that sometimes have to get resolved in the court system.

In the fall it's trans students having to fight the school powers that be because they were barred from having the opportunity to run for homecoming king or homecoming queen. 

Sometimes it's battles just to be able to take and put in the yearbook a senior class photo that reflects the person you are now like Jeydon Loredo had to do back in November versus the LaFeria ISD board.  

And yeah, I'm willing to bet there will be in May and June more instances of  transphobic school boards and administrators fighting tooth and nail to not allow trans students to attend their high school graduations or receive their hard earned diplomas wearing the cap and gown and clothing appropriate to who they present as now.

Now with the 2014 calendar in mid-March, thoughts are turning to prom season and the next looming high school gender expression battleground before the commencements start.     

There has been drama with prom dress codes between trans students and school administrators going back over two decades now, but it's happening far more frequently now as trans students transition earlier, assert their human rights to be themselves and school administrators cling to the gender binary like winos holding their last bottle of MD 20/20 

The DeSoto ISD in the Dallas 'burbs is the latest one to go there.   They attempted set a policy to ban cis feminine students from wearing tuxedos and men's suits and cis masculine ones from wearing prom dresses to their May 17 event.  

DeSoto ISD has every right to set those policies and general standards like requiring formal wear or barring revealing clothing.   But as written, the DeSoto ISD prom dress codes are problematic for trans masculine and transfeminine students. 

Not allowing a cis female or transmasculine student to wear a tuxedo or barring a cis male or transfeminine student from wearing a dress may subject the school to legal liability, including a sex discrimination claim under state education laws, antidiscrimination laws, Title IX or the U.S. Constitution.  

With Lambda Legal's regional office being located n Dallas, they are already on the job reminding the DeSoto ISD about what happened in the K.K. Logan case. 

Back on May 19, 2006  Logan was physically barred by her transphobic principal from entering the venue hosting her Gary, IN high school prom in feminine attire despite the fact that Logan had been presenting as female since the start of her junior year of high school.

West Side HS principal Diane Rouse probably wasn't aware the battle she was fighting that night had already been lost.  Diamond Stylz sued and won a similar court case against her Indianapolis area HS back in 1999.
 
Logan sued with the help of Lambda Legal, arguing that the school violated K.K.’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech, symbolic action and expressive conduct.

The matter was resolved in 2010, including an undisclosed amount paid to K.K. as well as revisions to the school district's dress code and nondiscrimination policies.  The Gary school district's policies were revised to contain specific protections for TBLG students.  The Gary, IN  school district also agreed to conduct training for the administration and school board members on LGBT issues and respectful treatment of LGBT people.

DeSoto ISD, it would be wise for you to make the necessary adjustments in that problematic policy before you find yourself in court on the losing end of a lawsuit. 

Stay tuned, because the 2014 prom season is coming up.  I'll be willing to bet I'll have one school district somewhere in the United States that shows its anuses before the 2013-14 school year concludes. 

H/T Lone Star Q
 

Bullied Trans Teen Girl Being Charged For Defending Herself

When 16 year old Jewelyes Gutierrez got fed up after being bullied by three girls for being trans and defended herself, the last thing she was expecting after the November 15 fight at Hercules HS was to be charged by the Contra Costa County DA for it.

But that's exactly what has happened in this case.  Gutierrez is being charged with a single count of misdemeanor battery for defending herself against three cis female attackers who had been bullying her. 

Wanna guess what happened to the bullies?  Nada.

What the hell was Contra Costa County DA Mark Peterson and assistant DA Dan Cabral thinking?  One of the girls takes spit laden gum out of her mouth, threw it in Jewelyes' face, and Jewelyes is the one getting charged? 

You've got to be kidding me.

"When I initially received this case, I was shocked that the district attorney's office decided to charge Jewelyes," said Kaylie Simon, Jewelyes' public defender. 

"I don't understand quite why the District Attorney's office would prosecute someone who's already been a victim of bullying. I think it's a further victimization of somebody who's been a target of homophobia and transphobia."  

So do I.    DA's Peterson and Cabral need to drop the charges they leveled at Jewelyes and let the school handle it, which it already did with suspensions to all the girls involved.

Charles Ramsey, the President of the West Contra Costa School Board, says this should have been a teachable moment and not "something that should rise the level of where it has to go to the District Attorney's office for prosecution."

So do the right thing Contra Costa DA's office.  Drop the charges.

TransGriot Update: Here's a petition asking the Contra Costa DA to do precisely that.

La Feria ISD Trans Student Will Have Pic In Yearbook

"But based on what happened in 2013 and previous school years over the life of this blog, I'm betting I'll be writing a few posts during the 2013-14 school year chronicling your attempts to fight the power, express your trans selves and live your lives."
  
--TransGriot  Trans Class of 2014, Start Planning Now To Beat Your Trans Oppressors  June 8, 2013

It's not even Thanksgiving Day yet and I've already been busy writing up on this blog drama already happening across the country with trans students fighting against their trans oppressors to be themselves as they navigate this school year. 

And you can bet that prom season and graduation days will bring even more resistance, transphobic ignorance and anti-trans bigotry from school administrators. 

Have been keeping my eye on along with other trans Texans the unnecessary drama going on in the Rio Grande Valley with La Feria High School trans teen Jeydon Loredo.

The La Feria High senior received some transphobic resistance from newly installed La Feria ISD superintendent Rey Villarreal concerning his picture that is slated to appear in the school yearbook.  

Villarreal has only been in the LFISD supenintendent's chair for four months andl stated that due to nebulous 'community standards'  Jeydon's yearbook picture of him in a tuxedo would not be allowed to be placed in the yearbook unless he wore traditional feminine attire.





That got the Southern Poverty Law Center involved.   They threatened to file a federal lawsuit on Jeydon's behalf if the anti-trans bigotry didn't cease and desist.  It set the stage for a November 11 LaFeria ISD board meeting in which Jeydon addressed the board along with his SPLC attorney Alesdair Ittelson.

“As school board members, you don’t get to decide whether transgender students receive the same rights as students who are not transgender, ” Ittelson told the LFISD board. “You must treat Jeydon equally and with the respect he deserves. The fact is, you must allow the tuxedo photo in the yearbook in order to remain in compliance with the law.” 

“Please allow my community to remember me, and to remember me the way I truly am, in the clothes that reflect me: Jeydon Loredo,” he asked the board.

The La Feria ISD school board subsequently went into closed session but made no decision on the photo.  They also closed ranks, refusing to comment on the issue or make a final decision probably in a vain attempt to stonewall and hope the story and the negative attention it was focusing on the town and school district near the Mexican border would fade away.

The SPLC wasn't amused.  They threatened to file the promised legal action if the LFISD didn't make a decision in Jeydon's case by November 21.  After a November 15 meeting between the interested parties, the La Feria ISD reversed itself. 

Jeydon's photo will now be included in the yearbook (as it should have been in the first place).  The La Feria ISD agreed to follow its own policies for cases of gender discrimination and provide training for the persons involved.

They also agreed to do a comprehensive education program for the La Feria school community in addition to adding gender identity and expression language in its district anti-discrimination policies.  

“We are very pleased that the school district has recognized Jeydon for who he is and will allow his photo in the yearbook along with all his classmates,” said Ittelson.

"This is a signal to other school districts that transgender students should be recognized as important members of their communities rather than ostracized and subjected to discrimination. We applaud Jeydon’s courage in standing up for his rights.” he continued.

And Jeydon's Lone Star State trans brothers and trans sisters second that sentiment.