TRANSGENDER TEACHER

[Duchess]

I view most Mockers as some of the most tolerant people I know. You leave me with the impression that live & let live is how you live your life. I'm curious to know your opinion about this teacher and I wonder if it would bother you to have her teaching your kids. There isn't a right or wrong answer, you're entitled to your opinion.

The former Gary Sconce, 56 — an award-winning educator, husband, father and grandfather who has taught at Yosemite High School for 24 years — will now be known as Karen Adell Scot, she said.

“I’m actually going to work as my real 'out' self,” Scot told NBC News. “I stand in front of the class and I’m so filled with joy.”

Under a long auburn wig and makeup, wearing a blue flowered dress and size 12W open-toed shoes, the transgender teacher said her brain will now match her body after a transition that has been a lifetime in coming.

“I will not return as my male persona ever again,” she said.



Story

[crash]

You know what, if that woman's passion to teach will overcome all the shit that her students will fling, then she deserves to teach, and will probably do an A grade job of it because she has put everything on the line for it.

If anything, her students could learn a lesson in humility from her.

[Duchess]

She is an award winning teacher & by all accounts beloved by her students. According to reports the kids aren't having a problem with it, it's some of the parents.

From a student -

[crash]

Yet more proof that parents need to just STFU and listen to their kids sometimes. I don't exclude myself from that advice.

[Duchess]

There is still a shit ton of people out there who believe that this kind of thing is a choice and some who believe it's a cry for attention. I admit to being a little skeeved by it but I'm certainly accepting of it. How I feel is irrelevant.

[crash]

I admit to being a little skeeved by it

I'm genuinely curious as to why?

For me, it's the people out there that oppress their true sexual desires that you need to be more careful of. The truest of the perverts never advertise.

Not that I've searched any statistics, but I'd hazard a guess that more students have been sexually assaulted/molested/been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a heterosexual teacher than a gay or transgender teacher, even on a per capita basis.

[Duchess]

I'm genuinely curious as to why?

It was strictly having to do with seeing what is obviously a man in a dress & makeup, that's all.

[crash]

I don't think she's any uglier than Roseanne..

[Duchess]

*snicker*

[crash]

There's a reality TV renovation show over here called 'The Block'. One of the team of contestants are twin sisters. The pic of the teacher up thread immediately reminded me of how I picture the sister (Lysandra), in the pic below, to look in twenty years...

[ramseycat]

I don't think I would care as long as he/she is a good teacher. My concern is that his/her dress or lifestyle would be a distraction in the classroom because the kids would be focused on that instead of the lesson. I think the kids it would affect would be the ones who's parents are bothered by it and make a big deal out of it.

Speaking of transgendered, I read online that Bruce Jenner is undergoing a transformation to become a woman. WTF?

[Maggot]

I would probably say something like "Why the long face" at some parent teacher meeting, that would get me some bruised ribs for sure, or a kick in the shin.[/b]

[sally]

I wouldn't care in middle school or high school and I'd be sure to tell my kids they better not give him any shit, but I wouldn't be happy about it in kindergarten. I'm not dropping my baby off with that scary guy (or any men actually) no way Jose.

[QueenBee]

I don't think she's any uglier than Roseanne..

True, now. But the ongoing hormone treatment will soften her features some.

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't care if someone is gay, bisexual or transgender.

Having said that, I'm not gonna lie -- even in a very liberal part of this country where there really isn't anything considered an "aternate" lifestyle anymore -- it would be more than a "whatever" moment pulling up to the school to drop my kid off at Mr. Sconce's class and seeing him -- the athletic, LE-trained, martial artist, husband and father -- standing outside the class in a dress and wig.

Now, the parents of his students need to understand gender dysphoria and be able to answer their kids' questions about it -- they're not allowed to ask Sconce about it. Not a bad thing for parents to increase their knowledge, though, IMO.

There was criticism that the school sent out a letter in advance regarding Sconce's "personal" change. I don't agree with that criticism. I don't think it should be the school's responsibility to call in every student and parent personally to try to explain this guy's transition and it's different than simply being gay (where it's nobody business what goes on behind closed doors). And, I don't think he was "outed" as a result of the letter being distributed or leaked, as he describes it. Transitioning genders (and remaining in the same location with the same contacts) involves a change in public image which is visible to all. It would have been unfair for the school not to make the parents and students aware in advance that Mr. Sconce would now be Ms. Scot, IMO.

Is he more "selfish" than "brave"? If I were his wife of 35 years or one of his 30-something children and he just announced one day that he's decided to physically become a female, I might think so. I can't imagine my macho dad suddenly dropping a bomb like that -- it would have shocked the holy hell outta me; probably would have felt betrayed and like I didn't really know the man, for a while at least. I can't even imagine how his wife must feel.

Transgender rights - all for it. Qualified transgender teachers - no problem. Marginalizing the impacts on the school administrators, the students/parents, and especially the family in this story in order to position Sconce/Scot as "courageous" doesn't paint a fair or realistic picture, but it does forward an agenda. It's an agenda that I happen to support, but I understand completely why it's not one that is casually embraced by all.

JMO.

[SIXFOOTERsez]

I don't think it would bother me to have her as a teacher for my kids, a bit creepy to me but kids probably would not mind.
That is one but ugly bitch though, big ass feet and all

[Adub]

Oakhurst is a very small mountain community. I think Sconce felt emboldened by that Act that was just passed a few months back here in CA allowing transgendered students to use the restroom of their choice. I know the ACT was about more than just using the restroom, but that seemed to get the most uproar in the news.

I do not find Sconce courageous at all. I think he is an ass. Maybe he should have considered moving out of Oakhurst and get a teaching job somewhere else, like maybe San Francisco.

And, he is a science teacher but the principal said he would no longer be teaching science? Why not let him teach science? What is up with that? So basically, since they can't fire him they are going to marginalize him to the computer labs. Maybe give him some support position that keeps him out of the classroom.

[HairOfTheDog]

And, he is a science teacher but the principal said he would no longer be teaching science? Why not let him teach science? What is up with that? So basically, since they can't fire him they are going to marginalize him to the computer labs. Maybe give him some support position that keeps him out of the classroom.

This article says his teaching assignment is remaining unchanged.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...-1.1731755

It also says the school has enlisted counselors to field questions from parents and students. Geez, schools are broke here as it is -- hope they're volunteers.

Anyway, here's the before and (partial) after.

[Duchess]

I have some compassion for people who are not comfortable in their own skin.

[HairOfTheDog]

As do I.

I also have a great deal of empathy for his family members. According to his own account, Sconce never let on about his true feelings up until very recently. I don't have a problem with him doing what he needs to do to feel content and hopefully happy in his own skin.

But, I also completely understand his wife wanting a divorce and one of his two adult children not talking to him at this time. After 35 years, your husband or your father deciding to become a woman is a hell of a lot to process, I imagine. And, in the process of changing his life and identity to feel more comfortable in his own skin, he is changing the lives and identities of his family members (who have no choice in the matter).

Life. Hopefully, they'll all come out of it stronger people.

The students and their parents will adjust. I don't think it's reasonable to expect that adjustment to be a shrug of the shoulders for everybody, though.