{"id":6691,"date":"2017-02-26T13:54:50","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T08:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=6691"},"modified":"2017-02-26T13:55:29","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T08:10:29","slug":"trumps-roll-back-of-transgender-rights-causes-worldwide-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/trumps-roll-back-of-transgender-rights-causes-worldwide-scare\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s roll-back of transgender rights causes worldwide scare"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBLIN (Pahichan) February 26\u2014 Coming out as a transgender<\/a> boy brought untold relief to Irish student Lucas Cross. After years of holding it in, he could finally start using the boys\u2019 restrooms at school \u2014 because Ireland<\/a>, like some other parts of the world, doesn\u2019t make a federal issue about where children do their business.<\/p>\n

As Donald Trump<\/a> and U.S. courts seek to make transgender use of toilets an American battleground in schools , the more progressive corners of Europe<\/a> and Latin America are shaking their heads in bewilderment. From Tipperary to Tierra del Fuego, schools let children go to the bathroom that suits their identity, a trend that could be reversed if the bitter U.S. debate travels overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens in the U.S. has a cultural impact here, and it\u2019s scary,\u201d said Catherine Cross, Lucas\u2019 mother, who helps Irish schools nationwide set policies on how to support transgender students. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be people who are frightened of change. It could give them license to shout louder when they see what\u2019s going on in the States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The right of transgender students to use restrooms in keeping with their own identity has become an afterthought in Norway and Argentina<\/a>, where the world\u2019s most far-reaching laws allow children to have their sexual identity reversed on their birth certificates, passports and other official identification without any formal medical diagnosis. Acceptance of identity from age 6 onward is the order of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone changes gender, the corresponding bathroom is respected. If it\u2019s a trans girl, she goes to the girl\u2019s bathroom. If it\u2019s a trans boy, he goes to the boy\u2019s,\u201d said Barbara Magarelli, a gay rights activist in Argentina, where she advocates supports for transgender children \u2014 including her own 12-year-old, whose official documents were changed three years ago to reflect her identity as a boy.<\/p>\n

Magarelli said parents often have the bigger problem coming to grips with new realities. Her son\u2019s prepubescent classmates, she said, \u201calready knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Norway, 10-year-old Anna Thulin-Myge is feeling liberated by a 2016 law that allowed her to be officially redefined as a girl. That means she can use the girls\u2019 toilets and the girls\u2019 locker room for gym. The only special arrangement is that she arrives five minutes ahead of the other girls to change. The nation\u2019s sports<\/a>federation advises schools and leagues that transgender girls should be allowed to play on girls\u2019 teams, arguing that inclusiveness trumps any concerns about competitive advantages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me feel included,\u201d Anna said at her family home in Haugesund, a small town on Norway\u2019s southwest coast.<\/p>\n

Anna has discussed Trump\u2019s policy shift with her parents and hopes her school doesn\u2019t ever force her back to the boys\u2019 room. \u201cI would feel sad and confused. That\u2019s not me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A deficit in firm rules governing how to deal with transgender children does present challenges in European countries, activists concede, but they say that has helped avoid a U.S.-style culture of conflict on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there are pressure points because when people ask, \u2018What shall we do?\u2019 there is no general from-the-top guidance. Schools have to make it up some of the time, and they have to think on their feet,\u201d said Jane Fae, a transgender activist in London. \u201cBut no, what you don\u2019t have over here is the fanatically religious opposition to LGB people and to trans people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Ireland and Malta, overwhelmingly Catholic lands where abortion remains outlawed, passed laws in 2015 permitting changes to sexual identity on official documents \u2014 Malta for even young children, Ireland at age 18. Ireland that year also became the first country on earth to legalize gay marriage<\/a> by popular national vote.<\/p>\n

Crusading activists have paved the way on both islands.<\/p>\n

In Malta, 8-year-old Willa Naylor helped persuade government ministers to change the law with a personal appeal fleshed out in her book, \u201cTruly Willa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s foremost transgender rights<\/a> pioneer, Lydia Foy, spent decades following her 1992 sex-reassignment surgery fighting legal battles to have Ireland record her as a woman. In 2015 she became the first Irish citizen to make the official change.<\/p>\n

Hundreds more have followed, including Lucas Cross, who today is a transgender freshman studying psychology in Waterford, southeast Ireland. Only a few years ago in his native village of Rathangan, Lucas was feeling suicidal, self-harming and refusing to drink water for fear it might force him to use a school toilet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI avoided it at all costs,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d go in the morning and not again until I got home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into the girls\u2019 was never comfortable for me, even though it\u2019s cleaner and smells better,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like I should be in the boys\u2019 bathroom but it was extremely intimidating. I wasn\u2019t ready for any transphobic remarks. It was easier to avoid the bathroom completely than to confront the question.\u201d<\/p>\n

His mother says it took years for her to come to grips with her child\u2019s true identity \u2014 and, in the summer before Lucas\u2019 senior year, warned teachers and the principal to be ready for change. Lucas\u2019 final year of high school became by far his happiest as staff and classmates accepted him as a boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school were very good about it. They were only concerned that I wasn\u2019t using either loo,\u201d he said. \u201cThey made sure I knew that it was completely fine to use the bathroom I wanted and if there was an issue, they definitely had my back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the son helps his mother guide schools, transgender children and their families toward happy compromises like his own. He facilitates monthly \u201cTransformers\u201d fellowships for people aged 14 to 19, while in another room, she counsels their parents and school officials.<\/p>\n

New Department of Education<\/a>-approved guidelines recommend adopting unisex school uniforms and sports activities, respectful and consistent use of the student\u2019s new name, and appointment of a teacher trained in answering students\u2019 questions about transsexual issues \u2014 in part so that the school\u2019s lone trans student doesn\u2019t face all that pressure alone to explain.<\/p>\n

Catherine Cross says about 10 percent of schools she advises still seek to force transgender students to use disabled toilets, refuse to use their new name and stick to calling a transgender girl \u201che\u201d and vice versa. Problems are most common, she says, in all-boys schools where a lone transgender girl might live teenage years of silent shame rather than risk being recognized.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s approach to transgender students may be ahead of American practice, she says, but it\u2019s subject to the whims of local principals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guidelines are not law or mandatory. Irish schools have a lot of autonomy to do what they see fit,\u201d she said. \u201cOn the whole they are pretty decent to trans kids. But they don\u2019t have to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copy : AP\/http:\/\/www.lgbtqnation.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUBLIN (Pahichan) February 26\u2014 Coming out as a transgender boy brought untold relief to Irish student Lucas Cross. After years of holding it in, he could finally start using the boys\u2019 restrooms at school \u2014 because Ireland, like some other parts of the world, doesn\u2019t make a federal issue about where children do their business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":6692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,621,490,11],"tags":[458,1333],"class_list":["post-6691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-news","category-slider","category-world","tag-transgender","tag-transsexual"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6691"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6694,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6691\/revisions\/6694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}