So what are we supposed to think about this story from The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s website?
Jonathan Escobar says he chooses to wear clothes that express himself. Skinny jeans, wigs, “vintage” clothing and makeup are the staples of his wardrobe.
The simple solution is a ‘gender neutral’ dress code. If a boy can wear it, a girl can. This is already true—for girls. Time for equal rights—for boys. Boys can wear what girls can wear; if it doesn’t distract people when girls wear it, it won’t when boys wear it.
Provided of course, people grow up and stop acting like cavemen.
Kids in public schools may not be free to express themselves exactly how they please. We wouldn’t let a kid go to school naked; we wouldn’t let a kid go to school dressed as a hedgehog. In Arab garb with a fake dynamite belt. As a Nazi SS officer. There’s all kinds of ways to express yourself which could be distracting, offensive, and wrong.
Dressing like a girl isn’t one of them. I’ve read that the school initially said they would permit the attire, but threw in the towel when the fights started. They didn’t say he couldn’t wear ‘costumes.’ They said he had to be more ‘manly.’
They decided to force Jonathan out. Sounds to me like the school is letting the terrorists win.
If these combative students wanted to beat up, say, Asians, because a new child was asian, how would that go?
Let’s try another thought experiment.
What rule would we make for an inter-sex kid? Physically inter-sex; between male and female; the current best practice isn’t to ‘fix’ them at birth anymore, because that didn’t work out well in the past. Intersex people may be working out how they want to live their lives. Sometimes they find they need to change their presentation. Honestly, I think that this school district would make an accommodation for that situation. Because you can see intersex. Things you can see are real.
Things inside our heads are harder to understand. But they are just as real.
Kids with ADD used to be called ‘bad students.’ Kids with dyslexia used to be called “stupid.” Alcoholics just needed more willpower, and they could stop drinking after the normal number of martinis.
What is the core of identity? What is a fad, a phase, a whim? We know that gender is at our core. When Escobar says he’s not cross-dressing, what he means is, this isn’t a fetish, a game or a costume. This is who he is.
I think he should be as free to express himself as any boy or girl in the school—in any way allowed to either boys or girls. No special rules. One rule for all.
Because some people are a bit of both physically; some are mentally; and some people are born in the wrong kind of body.
And it costs nothing, absolutely nothing, to let people be who they are.
I can tell you, that a place where someone feels safe, being who they are, while still being different, is a place where everyone can learn.
It’s worth it to make schools into places like that.
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