Lesbian Judge
Lets Schoolboy Dress as Girl
NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2000
BROCKTON, Mass. (UPI) – School
officials said Friday they will probably appeal a
lesbian judge's order allowing a 15-year-old boy to
wear wigs, tight skirts, padded bras, high heels and
other women's clothing to class. Administrators
said the eighth-grader, identified in court documents
only as Pat Doe, is disrupting school. But Superior
Court Judge Linda Giles ruled the school district was
violating the boy's right to freedom of expression.
A therapist testified that Doe has a
"gender identity disorder" that makes it
"medically necessary" for him to wear
women's clothes.
The judge wrote that his desire to
wear female clothing "is not merely a personal
preference but a necessary symbol of her very
identity."
"I'll be surprised if we don't
appeal," school district attorney Ed Lenox told
the Boston Herald.
Giles, who is openly homosexual,
refused to excuse herself from the case before
Wednesday's ruling. She said the school had a right to
discipline the student for inappropriate behavior but
couldn't punish Doe just because he wore women's
clothes.
The boy has been tutored at home
since he was barred from attending Brockton's South
Junior High School last year.
"We feel this is a disruption
to the education process," Brockton
Superintendent Joseph Bage said.
If a Heterosexual Boy Grabbed a
Girl's Butt ...
School officials said Doe sometimes
wore tight skirts and high-heeled shoes, blew kisses
to a male student and once grabbed another boy's
buttocks. He was also suspended at least three times
for using girls' restrooms.
The Boston Globe said Doe's
grandmother sued school officials after they said they
would not allow her grandson to enroll last month if
he wore women's clothing or accessories.
The judge ruled that "exposing
children to diversity at an early age serves the
important social goals of increasing their abilities
to tolerate differences and teaching them respect for
everyone's experience in that 'Brave New World' out
there."
Lenox said, however, "The
school was extremely reserved and respectful of the
individual here, but the school needs to look out for
the educational interests of hundreds of students in a
given school."
Giles' decision was hailed by
Jennifer Levi, the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and
Defenders lawyer who represented the boy in court.
"As the first reported decision
[in Massachusetts] addressing the rights of a
transgender student to express her gender identity in
school, it is tremendously important," Levi said.
"We know that a large number of transgender
students face serious hostility from teachers and
administrators."
Outside the school, one mother told
the Globe that she had given her 14-year-old son
permission to beat up Doe if he touched him.
Copyright 2000 by
United Press International. All rights reserved.
All Rights Reserved ©
NewsMax.com
TOP
