In Stillwater these days a small number of Republicans are kicking up a fuss over public schools.
The complaint, best as I understand, is what to do about LGBTQ students. Should someone one sex at birth be allowed to use a bathroom of the opposite sex? Should a transgender person be allowed to compete in sports as a female? Should school libraries be allowed to shelve age-appropriate books on the subject? I asked a concerned Republican leader about the bathroom problem. He said a parent told him his daughter, about age 14, could tell when a male was urinating by the sound. She knew the sound from her father and brother. The sound made her think of a penis. Her father did not want that.
Stillwater schools already have single-person bathrooms any student may access. The girl who does not want to be reminded of penises could quietly use one. Instead, her parents want to require a transgender child to use it or the boys’.
What’s the difference?
Simple. The complaining parents want to focus attention on the transgender child, give the impression the child is out of line with “Oklahoma Values.” Transgender children already have a tough time. Wearing their girl’s clothing in the boy’s room just makes their life a little tougher. Their suicide rate is high. Can’t we help them? Or at least not heap more problems their way?
There are physical differences between males and females that might advantage one or the other sex. The performance of top male and female athletes once seemed converging. The grueling Alaska 938 mile Iditarod race, for example, was won by a woman five times. Today the 100 Meter Dash separates the world’s best male and female by less than a second. In 1932, Stillwater’s Peyton Glass Jr. clocked 100 meters at 10.40 seconds. It made him “The World’s Fastest Human.” In 1988 Florence Griffith-Joyner did it in 10.49 seconds. Recent studies, however, find the gap, though small, is not closing across Olympic sports. The exception is shooting. A woman won a silver in 1976 and another a gold in 1992 in competition with men.
On the one hand, athletic federations do not want to discriminate against transgender persons. On the other, women athletes are currently at a disadvantage against males. Athletic federations are on top of this. Testosterone testing and standards for transgender athletes must be met. As more studies emerge adjustments are made. Should the matter be regulated by women’s sports itself or by the legislature? Legislatures set inflexible standards based on politics, the science of the moment, or no science at all. I remember when the legislature, fearing African Americans would publicly humiliate whites, forbade whites and African Americans to compete on the same field.
What about library books? In my lifetime I experienced the integration of African Americans and changes in the roles of women. Libraries added books to help children understand these changes. Books showing accomplished African Americans and women were added. That was part of the process of welcoming folks into the wider society.
Lately society is in the process of accommodating those uncomfortable with society assigned sex roles. Opinion polls in Oklahoma and nationwide show 60-70% support same sex marriage. Estimates from 2012 have 98,575 LGBT Oklahoma adults and in 2010, 6,134 same-sex couple households. Nationally the numbers are 9,083,558 and 646,464. Same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states.
Libraries acquired age-appropriate books explaining the distinction between biological sex and socially ascribed gender. A classmate may have two mommies or two daddies. That does not make the classmate someone to avoid. The books suggest those situations should be respected. Like African Americans and women, library books now show those with divergent gender roles are otherwise like everyone else. Why do these few Republicans call the library books filth?
Why a small number of Republican candidates and party activists have targeted these school children and the school authorities seeking to fit them into today’s classroom is beyond me. Haven’t we learned anything from Oklahoma’s days of White Supremacy?
Bob Darcy is a retired OSU Political Science and Statistics professor.
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