In Gender Pluralisms under the Transgender Umbrella, Paisley Currah introduces two legal cases that are quite similar in their contexts but argued out in different ways. Currah chooses to stay neutral in both cases and state them as they are to the reader. The first case is about a seventh-grade girl, Pat Doe, who wishes to express her femininity while attending school by wearing makeup, skirts, tight skirts, padded bras, and high heeled shoes. Her attire was quite disturbing to her teachers at South Junior High, located in Brockton, Massachusetts. The main issue was her gender presentation because her physique was quite similar to a male. Hence, she found it fulfilling to wear like a lady to bring out her feminine side. With time, Doe began wearing accessories associated with girls, raising an alarm for the principal, who objected citing the approved dress code by the school. One should not wear clothes or accessories that would be distractive or disruptive to other students.
Her troubles did not end there; the following term, she had to report to the principal for an inspection before going to class. Most of the time, the principal sent her home to change into appropriate attire; a move that made her skip her classes with time. The principal was lenient with her when she wore feminine attire but not dresses, padded bras or skirts even though other girls wore them. According to Currah, the visualization of Doe by the school was the main barrier towards allowing her to fit in with the other students. In the second case discussed, a 17-year-old high school senior, Nikki Younghood, from Hillsborough Country, Florida, showed up for the yearbook’s photo shoot wearing a shirt and tie. The photographer refused to take her pictures because of the school’s rules. Girls had to wear a velvet-like scoop neck drape that was a bit revealing. What Younghood wore was the boy’s attire and she had a choice to wear the appropriate attire or miss the photo shoot. Younghood opted not to oblige to the demands and true to their word, the school did not feature her.
In both instances, the girls want to wear their preferred attire, but the school does not approve. In the case of Doe, she wants to embrace her feminine side, though the school feels as if she is overdoing it. In the other case of Younghood, she chooses to wear the ‘boy’s attire’ to the photo shoot. In the courts, the cases were hard to tackle though they were a success with the parties agreeing to solve the problem out of the court. The school allowed Doe to wear ‘girls’ clothes to school while the Hillsborough Country School removed their requirement for girls to wear drapes. One of the most effective laws in the cases was the gender identity disorder recorded in Doe’s case. The school violated her rights, yet she was a female by gender. However, the same situation was not possible for Younghood as she was fighting to look like the opposite sex. The only winning argument in her case was the rule by Hillsborough County School for girls to wear drapes to their yearbook photo shoot. The complexities found in the two cases is the fight to wear what one prefers. It is quite easy for one to fight for their rights to look like their gender. The claim of gender identity disorder guarantees one to use their clothes and accessories to amplify their gender. However, it is not easy for one to fight for the right to look like the opposite sex. As per the case of Younghood, there was a lack of extra information to back her fight for not wearing drapes. The judge viewed it as a rebellion and not a disorder.
One of the major challenges towards transgender inclusion in the gay rights movement is the lack of special need towards their case. The courts are yet to contemplate the relationship between transgender’s case and gay’s. They argue that there are protections which people take for granted because they have a notion of having them while other feels they are not important. Another notion made by the courts is that the extension of basic civil rights to accommodate gay people is not an emergency. All they seek is to be a part of the common humanity, which is quite hard for the current society to accommodate their viewpoints. The U.S Supreme Court rejected the thought of gay people being a part of fundamental human rights. The full humanity and entitlement of gay people lie on their choices, autonomy, and personal dignity. Hence, it is quite a struggle to convince people that it being gay is a special case, which they ought to consider.
The situations have become better for some of the laws, especially the old ones. Some states recognize gay marriages while others uphold the rights of gays. However, the issue is yet to have an effect across the country due to religious and personal views of people. It is quite hard for people to understand the lesbian, gay and transgender issue with most of them sticking to the opinion that it is a mental unrest by those that practice it. People have the fear of what the future generation will be like if such rights were to become laws. However, it does not deter the effort by LGBT groups to continue fighting.
With the cases of transgender rising by the day, schools are finding it hard to accept transgender pupils to use respective locker rooms and bathrooms. Most of them end up creating private changing rooms for them because of the hesitation of bonding them with the opposite sex. For instance, it is hard for a male transgender to enter the ladies’ locker room for fear of being a threat to others. It is a situation that led Elko County School board to vote on a motion to keep transgender students off locker rooms and bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. The same case applies to the community when a transgender wants to visit a public restroom. It is a controversy that might lead to the establishment of ‘special’ rooms for transgender. The whole debate continues to thicken by the day with the advance in LGBT political movement.
Bibliography
Currah, Paisley. 2006. "Gender Pluralisms Under the Transgender Umbrella." In Transgender Rights, by Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang and Shannon Minter, 1-23. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
Fausset, Richard. 2016. North Carolina Restroom Law Becomes a Central Election Issue. April 25. Accessed May 02, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/us/north-carolina-restroom-law-becomes-acentral-election-issue.html.
Minter, Shannon Price. 2006. "Do Transsecuals Dream of Gay Rights? Getting Real about Transgender Inclusion." In Transgender Rights, by Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang and Shannon Minter, 141-159. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
Rich, Motoko, and Julie Bosman. 2015. As Transgender Students Make Gains, Schools Hesitate at Bathrooms. November 3. Accessed May 2, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/us/as-transgender-students-make-gains-schools-hesitate-at-bathrooms.html?_r=0.
