To my transgender friends: I see you; I support you; I voted today to support transgender youth in my local schools.
We have a local school board election that’s quickly become an epicenter in the Bathroom Culture Wars. It’s hit the national news. My kids are in these schools. I was on the school board of the K-8 school for four years. To say I’m invested would be a substantial understatement. In all my time on school board (and before/after), I’ve always been about advocating for *every* child—gifted, regular ed, special needs, homeless, immigrant, gay, and now, transgender. Many kids are vulnerable, but transgender kids face a 40% suicide rate in their teens. Gay kids face a similarly out-sized risk. Recent studies in my state (IL) showed that the teen suicide rate for gay teens dropped 30% after gay marriage was made legal in our state. Policy matters. Culture matters. A culture that doesn’t understand this does active harm to children.
And I’ll be voting against that every chance I get.
Transgender kids don’t need people on the school board who don’t understand this—so I’m voting for people who actually *get* that vulnerable kids need protection. They need support. I’m hoping the people of my community will understand this and vote accordingly today.
ps. The Alliance Defending Freedom group cited in the article, which is suing the district—which means school money has to be used to fight lawsuits and not educate kids—is a registered hate group with the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) for their anti-gay views.