A transgender student at Ohio’s Wilmington College was fired from her his student-teaching placement at a local high school on his second day there, reports the Wilmington News Journal. Hillsboro High School officials are claiming he was dismissed because he discussed “personal matters” in the classroom.
The student, a senior, says that he wanted to address the elephant in the room with the class, and to correct students who made “he-she comments”:
“I was reminded teachers live in a fish bowl and they’re under constant scrutiny from parents and students alike, and that my behaviors had been outside their community policies… I would much rather say it very openly and honestly and ask if they have questions, comments or concerns, than for it to get around and be misconstrued and be like the game telephone, where things aren’t passed around accurately.”
Hillsboro City School Superintendent Rick Earley apparently did not like this approach, saying the student-teacher (born a female, but who identifies as male, wears men’s clothing, and is not named in the article) brought “personal matters” into a classroom instead of just teaching.
The school district may be in violation of federal law, which was just changed last month to protect transgender employees in the workplace.
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Hillsboro High School officials are claiming he was dismissed because he discussed “personal matters” in the classroom.”
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Oh yes because NONE of our teachers EVER discussed the fact that they were married, had children, had a death in the family, and God Forbid that they were pregnant.
No, they never mentioned ANY of that.
I'm confused
Did HE discuss personal matters? Or, did SHE? WHICH ONE?
Jake
Pronoun slip-up, FYI: it sounds like this person goes by male pronouns (and is trans male) – but you refer to “her” student-teaching position in the first sentence.
matt baume
It’s disappointing that the teachers’ union declined to comment. This seems like a case where they really should be standing up for the student teacher.
Dr. Dick
Speaking of “he-she comments” WHICH IS IT? Pronouns ain’t Non-Euclidean geometry, people!
oh well
He or She is just a student teacher, not an actual teacher and since they’re a HS student it’s more like they’re just a classroom helper/assistant.
I'm confused
I don’t know that high school students really need to be taught what transgenderism is. They’re not going to understand for the most part.
Hyhybt
One of the first things my fourth grade teacher did was explain that she was diabetic, what that means, and that part of that meant both that she could not normally have sugar *and* that she might occasionally need some immediately, so if we saw her eat a Snickers that’s what was happening.
It took maybe five minutes, taught us all something worth knowing not only about our teacher, but about the world in general, and preempted confusion later on. (I don’t remember her ever having to use that emergency candy, but she did have to go to the hospital later in the year. The confusion came in anyway when the substitute misspoke and said our teacher was having an autopsy done, when she meant biopsy.)
Anyway, I doubt this school would have seen Mrs. Feldman’s explanation as inappropriate (other than the fact that diabetes is now common enough that the kids would probably already know about it) and logically this is the same thing.
tdz
pronoun slip in the first sentence? On QUEERTY? uhhhhh
Cam
Somebody was fired because they dared to let a class know that they exist…..
And the discussion on here is about the pronoun that Queerty used. By all means, lets ignore the civil right’s issue to fight over that shall we?
Ben
Is Queerty going to post stories about discrimination generally, even if it has nothing to do with gay people? Will it post every story about a straight Black or Latino employee suffering racial discrimination?
If not, then don’t post about heterosexual trans people suffering discrimination. Trans is not gay. They are 2 different things. And while I condemn discrimination against trans people, that does not make it a gay news item.
R.A.
@I’m confused:
“I don’t know that high school students really need to be taught what transgenderism is. They’re not going to understand for the most part.”
If you’re typical of the average high school student, I guess not.
Dave
Ben STFU you bigot. Trans people are included among us gays, lesbians, and bisexuals and they should be included. There’s nothing said about the Trans person that says that they’re hetero and even if they are who cares? FYI this is an LGBT news site in case you didn’t notice.
denisesined
This is a pathetic situation and the young person should be given their position back and apology issued. He explained a simple enough situation and that should have been the end of it. But No, they have to try and destroy this person and their potential career.
Seems like the staff and parents are the ones who need to be lectured to, but unfortunately they have the most say.
I'm confused
@Ben: Ben brings up a really important point. An FTM that is attracted to females is a heterosexual male. Why are they in the gay boat? Trans people need their own movement. Their struggle is really important, but it has nothing to do with being gay.
J
@Ben: I agree with you Ben.This is a site for GAY news.It says it at the top of the page.
Ben
@Dave: Hey, Dave. I don’t think it is bigotry to object to gay people being equated with crossdressing and transsexuality. In fact, I think it is bigotry to equate gay people with crossdressing and transsexuality. The vast majority of gays do not crossdress or want to change their gender and the vast majority of trans people are not gay. So they are 2 different things.
I oppose discrimination against trans people discussed in this story but that doesn’t make it a gay issue any more than any more than a story about racial or disability discrimination is a gay story.
Please look beyond the mindless slogans like “LGBT” – which didn’t even exist a few years ago – and which don’t reflect reality.
MikeNYC
Ben LGBT existed in the 80s. I agree that this is not a totally gay news site it’s a site for LGBT news and for LGBT people.
The segregationist attitude that somehow Trans people aren’t a part of the LGBT community and that it should only include or be about gay men and lesbians, and not bisexuals or trans people at all is a pointless 70s ghetto mentality that got LGBT people nowhere politically or socially.
Hyhybt
There’s a lot of commonality: we’re treated much the same (especially historically), we have in common not fitting into what people expect/demand from our physical sex, there’s a distinct possibility that the causes of both states are similar, and so on.
So there’s clearly a relation of sorts. Why, other than a dislike of trans people, would anyone insist on tossing their category out of the grouping?
Max
Exactly Hyhbt. A bisexual Transwoman Sylvia Rivera started the Stonewall riots, so Trans people and bisexuals have been there since the beginning.
Ben
Bisexuals are not the issue. Bisexuals are all defined by sexual orientation, just like Gs and Ls. And like Ls and Gs they are all homosexual, albeit to a lesser degree. So they are part of one community with Ls and Gs, no question. Ts are not. They are not defined by sexual orientation and most are straight.
LGBT did not exist until the mid-90s and didn’t come into fashion until the late 90s. Like the Backstreet Boys and 98 Degrees, it should come to an end.
Marie
Ben quit revising history LGBT existed in the 80s.