Right-wing commentators, including Fox News, are reporting that parents and students from a Colorado high school are accusing a transgender student of using the women’s restroom and harassing female students.
Last week, Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a California-based law firm dedicated to fighting cases involving religious freedom, wrote a letter to Florence High School on behalf of an undisclosed number of female students and their families who have alleged harassment.
“This is a nightmare scenario for the teenage girls—some of them freshmen—and their parents at this school,” PJI attorney Matthew McReynolds said in a statement. “This is exactly the kind of horror story we have been warning would accompany the push for radical transgender rights in schools, and it is the type of situation that LGBT activists have been insisting would not happen.”
“We’re not going to stand by and let 99.7% of our students lose their privacy and free speech rights just because .3% of the population are gender-confused,” Brad Dacus, the president of Pacific Justice Institute, added.
Dacus went on to say that LGBT activists were “sacrificing the safety and sanity of our schools” by pushing their “extreme political agenda.” He also warned that the problem is “spreading to every part of the nation,” calling it a “crippling blow to our constitutional freedoms.”
LGBT activists argue that the only basis for the accusations has been the original press release by PJI. Many media outlets are also crying foul. And school superintendent Rhonda Vendetti said that there have been no claims of harassment to school officials.
“Nothing has actually been verified,” she told the Transadvocate in a phone interview. “This is one parent basically bringing their viewpoint about this situation to the media because they weren’t getting the responses that they hoped they would get from the district, from parents of students at the high school, or from the board and myself.”
Vendetti added: “To our knowledge and based on our investigation, none of those things have actually happened. We do have a transgender student at the high school and she has been using the women’s restroom. There has not been a situation.”
But McReynolds refuses to believe Vendetti’s version of events, telling National Review on Wednesday: “The core issue is that this school is giving this transgender youth full access to both boys’ and girls’ facilities, and they are showing little if any regard for the privacy rights of other students.”
He added that PJI has received “additional reports of specific, inappropriate statements made by this student.” Specific details on these reports, however, are not available. Probably because they don’t exist.
Conservative activists have long promoted the myth that equal treatment for LGBT students will increase rates of sexual abuse in schools. Creating a completely fabricated example of harassment as proof that their transphobic convictions is just par for the course.
Cam
Interesting that nobody has apparently reported anything to the school, and yet the supposed students and parents knew exactly which right wing organization to go to about this issue. Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Thedrdonna
PJI has basically admitted they don’t have anything concrete, just unverifiable claims that she said something untoward. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from claiming that her mere presence is harassment.
Bozen
I don’t care for their choice of words to express their opinion, but I have to say I can empathize with them. If the allegations actually tend to be closer to true than untrue, I’d feel a bit disappointed.
I can see people’s opinions now.
The far right and people who have been duped by the media: “GAY POLITICAL AGENDA BEING FORCED ON ME! PROPAGANDA! WRATH OF THE BIBLE!”
The far left and people who have been duped by the media: “HATE SPEECH! HOMOPHOBE! PREJUDICE QUACK! IF SHE SAYS SHE’S A GIRL SHE’S A GIRL!”
Meanwhile, you have the silent majority who just thinks the entire thing is silly.
MikeE
@Bozen: No, we have a minority of gutless wonders like you who think that everything you don’t care about, everything that does not directly affect you, is “silly”.
“Duped by the media”? Your internalized homophobia is disgusting. If she is transgender, then she IS a girl. just because you have an issue with it doesn’t make it not real.. or “silly”.
Besides, you have absolutely NO idea what the hell “far left” really means. It’s obvious from your posts. you keep using it as some sort of indictment of “liberal” beliefs.
Caleb in SC
The Family Research Council, which is based in Colorado, and is currently losing the marriage equality battle, is behind this. I believe Queerty already published an article on how the FRC is now turning its attention to trans rights.
Bozen
@MikeE: Whoa! Relax. That’s no way to have a discussion with somebody. Normally I’d really like to expound upon any misconceptions you or -anyone- may have had with what I typed, but I’m not sure I should even reply to the assumptions and allegations you just made because doing that might be misconstrued as giving them the tiniest bit of credence.
MikeE you should try to be less antagonistic. I really don’t think what I typed warranted that kind of input from you, especially since you clearly misunderstood a large portion of what I was attempting to underline.
@Caleb in SC: It’s really a sobering thought to think these people at PJI and these people at FRC truly feel that what they’re doing is right. From the CFI Site- “The family is the fundamental building block of all human civilizations. It is the original form of government from which all others come about either by choice or by force. Marriage holds all of society together through the socialization of men, the protection of women and the nurturing and education of children. The health of our culture, its citizens and their children are intimately linked to the well-being of marriage.” Sounds like a no-nonsense, cold and stuffy group of Protestants. Eeesh.
jeff4justice
Speaking of Pacific Justice Institute, here’s it’s leader: Gay Sex Question Dodged By Anti-Gay Activist http://youtu.be/MwytC5lUmEI
Dixie Rect
This sounds like a John Waters movie.
PattyM
PJI has also sued the Kansas Board of Education and several California communities for teaching evolution. Teaching that many different lines of evidence point to that process is “teaching atheism”.
(http://www.examiner.com/article/pacific-justice-institute-challenges-forced-atheism-kansas-public-schools) And a hundred similar sites.
AngelicaCarter
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Saralikesyarr
What a biggoted organization.
Picking on a little girl.
Screw them. They’re going to loose hard.
It’s been obvious for a wile that simply defeating the bigots will never be enough. We’re going to have to extract their unconditional surrender.
And wipe the floor with them.
Saralikesyarr
typo: while, not “wile”