TLDEF Files Complaint to Protect Transgender First Grader From School Discrimination

[TLDEF email] Complaint Alleges Six-Year-Old Transgender Girl Denied Access to Girls' Bathrooms at School

TLDEF today announced that it has filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division on behalf of a 6-year-old girl who has been barred from using the girls' bathrooms at her elementary school. For the past year, Coy Mathis, a first-grader at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, CO, has used the girls' bathrooms. In mid-December 2012, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 informed her parents that Coy would be prevented from using the girls' bathrooms after winter break. The District ordered Coy to use the boys' bathroom, a staff bathroom, or the nurse's bathroom.

Coy was labeled male at birth, but has always known that she is a girl, and has expressed this since she was 18 months old. Since kindergarten, Coy has worn girls' clothing to school. Her classmates and teachers have used female pronouns to refer to her and she has used the girls' bathrooms, just like any other girl in her school.

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination against transgender students in public schools. Despite efforts to get the District to reconsider its decision, it has refused to do so. Coy's parents have removed her from school and are home schooling her until this Complaint is resolved.

"We want Coy to have the same educational opportunities as every other Colorado student," said Kathryn Mathis, Coy's mother. "Her school should not be singling her out for mistreatment just because she is transgender."

"By forcing Coy to use a different bathroom than all the other girls, Coy's school is targeting her for stigma, bullying and harassment," said Michael Silverman, TLDEF's executive director, and one of Coy's lawyers. "Through the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, Coloradans have made it clear that they want all Colorado children to have a fair and equal chance in school," he added. "Coy's school has the opportunity to turn this around and teach Coy's classmates a valuable lesson about friendship, respect and basic fairness."

"We have five children and we love them all very much," said Mrs. Mathis. "We want Coy to return to school to be with her teachers, her friends, and her siblings, but we are afraid to send her back until we know that the school is going to treat her fairly. She is still just six years old, and we do not want one of our daughter's earliest experiences to be our community telling her she's not good enough."

In addition to TLDEF, the legal team representing the Mathis family includes Michael Flynn, Lucy Deakins, Jami Mills Vibbert, and Rosario Doriott Dominguez of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

For the latest information on Coy's case, including upcoming media appearances, please follow us on Twitter and "like" us on Facebook. We'll be posting the latest information there first.

Click for a slideshow of Mathis family photos.

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Statutes Part 3. Definiations:

(7) “Sexual orientation” means a person's orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or another person's perception thereof."

Part 6. Discrimination in Places of Public Accommodation

(1) "As used in this part 6, “place of public accommodation” means......an educational institution...."

(2) "It is a discriminatory practice and unlawful for a person, directly or indirectly, to refuse, withhold from, or deny to an individual or a group, because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry, the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation...."

Trans Woman Sanam Fakir Running In Pakastan's First Peacefull Political Transition

Breaking the Begging Bowl.

Apropo of the social change in Pakistan where democracy has previously has been just out of reach Sanam Fakir, a transgender woman is running for office.

"It is not our destiny to merely dance for others and hold begging bowls. We have a life to live," Sanam Fakir, 32, told AFP by telephone from the town of Sukkur, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

The elections will be for the national parliament and provincial assemblies.

Running as an independent in Sukkur, which is traditionally dominated by the main ruling Pakistan People's Party and which has a tiny transgender community, Fakir's chances are slim of winning a seat in the Sindh provincial assembly.

"We are not corrupt. We have no need to be corrupt. We have no families and our own needs are limited. We are contented people," Fakir told AFP.

This is not the first time Sanam Fakir has made strives to raise our community up in Pakistan where discrimination is so extreme. Previously she bought three old computers and runs a learning center for our family in her house.

Sanam Fakir is truly a inspiration and remarkable leader of the transgender community to emulate. Regardless of the outcome of the election  Sanam Fakir is already a winner.

Fratenity Brothers Raising Money For Prospects Top Surgery

Emerson College Chapter of Phi Alpha Tau fraternity is raising money to fund a prospect's top surgery. From the Indiegogo fund raising site:

"We are a group of individuals brought together through our fraternity and we are here for one reason: to support the brothers of our organization. Yesterday we were informed that one of our prospective brothers, a transgender female to male, was denied the opportunity to recieve financial support from his insurance for top surgery."

"We are now trying to raise that money for him. We are doing this as individuals in an organization rallying around another individual. This endeavor is not being sponsored by the organization as a whole, rather the active members within it."

"We care deeply about each and everyone, and rely on the entire active brotherhood to stand behind any one individual when they are in need."



Read more at Gay Star News.

Trans ICE Detainees: Our Acquiescence Condemns Them To Be The Forgotten

The video is of Ms Bamby Salcedo of the Trans Latina Coalition presenting at the 2013 LGBT Journalist Conference in Philadelphia February 2013. Ms. Salecdo came to the United States seeking nothing more than what everyone here desires, freedom to live her life authentically.

What she found was alienation, poverty and sexual assault at the hands of the people who entrusted with the safe guarding of our borders. When I asked Bamby how it is that she has become a Transgender aids activist addressing this room of journalists today she replied " because she was a empowered woman, even back then, the system was forced into giving her a chance releasing her from incarceration and deportation.



I then asked Bamby what we could do as journalists to get the stories of  the trans people who are currently held by ICE published. She explained with sadness in her voice that most trans woman in ICE detention are too scared to tell their stories out of fear that might further jeopardize there chances at remaining in the United States. Further more she explained we wouldn't be allowed to visit them in the first place.

So is this the fate these woman who passed under Lady Liberty who in reality is transgender? Are we to remain silent?

The original Statue of liberty, some would argue, was a statue of the Greek Titian Colossus commissioned by the Egyptian goverment with decidedly male features.

The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus's Sonnet found on the base of Lady Liberty, is about the transition of Ms Liberty who's roles changed from warrior to welcomer and from male to a female transgender woman.

Transpanic Parody "know the materials" Sushi Advert With English Subtitles

This sushi "Gin No Sara" commercial suggests that a trans woman's romantic interest was about to be fooled since he didn't "Know the materials". Its viral subliminal transphobic message is deeply appealing to the targeted audience.



You can't spoof a cowards excuse he might try to use when charged with murdering a transgender woman. It's about as funny as a rape joke.

TLDEF Invite: Watch our Clients on "Katie" Febuary 26

"Please tune in to Katie on Tuesday as TLDEF clients Coy, Jeremy and Kathryn Mathis, and executive director Michael Silverman discuss our latest case." ~ Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund

From the show's website:

"Trapped in the Wrong Body: Growing Up Transgender"

"What do you do when your child feels like they were born in the wrong body? On this episode of Katie, you’ll hear the deeply personal stories of three transgender children and their parents, and their journeys to understand the psychological, physical, and social process to become their authentic selves.

Meet Coy Mathis, a transgender girl who at only six-years-old is fighting alongside her parents for the right to be fully recognized as a girl in school. Katie will explore how medical advances are being used earlier and more safely to change the biological process of puberty, and she will introduce a beautiful woman who struggled for her father’s acceptance and has an important message about gender identity."

Click here to find a station that carries Katie near you.