09-17-2011, 11:01 AM
DARIEN, Ga. (WSAV) -- A McIntosh County father is asking the school board to allow his transgender child to use the boys bathroom.
The 7 year-old second grader is physically a girl but living as a boy, and the family said school officials had ordered the child to use the girls restroom.
The boy's father, Tommy Theollyn, is transgender. He is actually the child's biological mother, but began his own gender transition about a year after giving birth.
Theollyn said his child, D, began living as a boy a year ago. Theollyn said he pulled D out of school after this happened at the start of the school year.
Theollyn says D's teacher at Todd Grant Elementary told him before the school year started it would be ok for D to use the boys bathroom.
But he said that changed when classes began, so on Thursday night he and the child's grandmother showed up at the McIntosh County School Board meeting with nearly 41,000 signatures gathered from an online petition in the last three weeks.
"Thank you to the people that signed the petition," said Theollyn. "We very very much appreciate that. It helped get us through that meeting with the board and just, thank you."
"He needs to get back to school," said the child's grandmother, who identified herself just as Granny. "We hope they'll make some concessions or start a conversation that's nuts and bolts."
The family said the board was clear at the beginning of the closed door meeting that no decision or response would come from them Thursday.
An advocate from Georgia Equality said they are asking the board to do what is best for the children.
"The main issue here is that students are not safe if they are in these conditions, and so we're just here to promote the safety of all students and being able to use correct facilities and just having access," said Em Elliott, a field organizer with Georgia Equality.
Theollyn said D came out as a boy last year by his own choice, and they didn't have any problems at the school D was attending in the Atlanta area at the time.
There is no word on when the McIntosh County School Board will issue a decision.
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Tell me this parent didn't have a thing to do with convincing the 7 year old girl she was a boy...
I know some of your will say transgender issues are not sexual, but they are. They involve gender roles and behavior that ultimately define sexual behavior.
This story just pissed me off. Why should a little girl have to see little boy peepers when she can easily go in the girl's restroom and close the door to do her business? Would this even be an issue if her mom didn't think she was Chaz Bono?
The 7 year-old second grader is physically a girl but living as a boy, and the family said school officials had ordered the child to use the girls restroom.
The boy's father, Tommy Theollyn, is transgender. He is actually the child's biological mother, but began his own gender transition about a year after giving birth.
Theollyn said his child, D, began living as a boy a year ago. Theollyn said he pulled D out of school after this happened at the start of the school year.
Theollyn says D's teacher at Todd Grant Elementary told him before the school year started it would be ok for D to use the boys bathroom.
But he said that changed when classes began, so on Thursday night he and the child's grandmother showed up at the McIntosh County School Board meeting with nearly 41,000 signatures gathered from an online petition in the last three weeks.
"Thank you to the people that signed the petition," said Theollyn. "We very very much appreciate that. It helped get us through that meeting with the board and just, thank you."
"He needs to get back to school," said the child's grandmother, who identified herself just as Granny. "We hope they'll make some concessions or start a conversation that's nuts and bolts."
The family said the board was clear at the beginning of the closed door meeting that no decision or response would come from them Thursday.
An advocate from Georgia Equality said they are asking the board to do what is best for the children.
"The main issue here is that students are not safe if they are in these conditions, and so we're just here to promote the safety of all students and being able to use correct facilities and just having access," said Em Elliott, a field organizer with Georgia Equality.
Theollyn said D came out as a boy last year by his own choice, and they didn't have any problems at the school D was attending in the Atlanta area at the time.
There is no word on when the McIntosh County School Board will issue a decision.
____________________________________________________
Tell me this parent didn't have a thing to do with convincing the 7 year old girl she was a boy...
I know some of your will say transgender issues are not sexual, but they are. They involve gender roles and behavior that ultimately define sexual behavior.
This story just pissed me off. Why should a little girl have to see little boy peepers when she can easily go in the girl's restroom and close the door to do her business? Would this even be an issue if her mom didn't think she was Chaz Bono?