Mistaken premise on transgender student

The U.S. Department of Education has issued a letter informing District 211 that it has 30 days to "conform with the office's understanding of Title IX requirements or face enforcement action."

Adds Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon: "Township High School District 211 is not following the law because the district continues to deny a female student the right to use the girls' locker room."

First of all, the student is not a female. He is a male who feels he should be a female, but he still has his male parts. Lhamon goes on: "The district can provide access to this student while also respecting all students' privacy. We encourage the district to comply with the law and resolve this case."

District 211 thought that it was complying with the law and respecting the privacy of the girls in the locker room by providing a private dressing area within the girls' locker room for the transgender student.

While I sympathize with the student and the anguish he must feel when he considers himself to be in the wrong gender's body, the fact is that he is in a male body. The student complains that "the district's policy stigmatized me, often making me feel like I was not a 'normal' person." Once again, the fact is, he is not a 'normal' person. He self-identifies as a female even though he is male.

John Knight, of the ACLU of Illinois, which is handling the student's case, stated, "Rather than approaching this issue with sensitivity and dignity, the district has attempted to justify its conduct by challenging my client's identity as a girl." This is the mistaken premise: The client is a boy, not a girl. He may wish that he were a girl, but he is not.

Brian Cleary

Wheaton