February 27, 2013 -- Updated 1614 GMT (0014 HKT)
First-grader Coy Mathis wants to use the girls' restroom at her Colorado
elementary school. But school officials won't let her. Coy was born
with male sex organs but identifies herself as a girl. FULL STORY
February 27, 2013 -- Updated 1553 GMT (2353 HKT)
Coy Mathis, a first-grader, has been banned from using girls' restrooms at her Colorado school.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Coy Mathis was born male, but identifies female and dresses as a girl
- Coy's parents are filing a complaint under Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act
- Coy can no longer use the girls' restroom at her elementary school
- The school district says Coy can use other restrooms in the school
The reason? Coy is transgendered, born with male sex organs but a child who identifies herself as female.
She dressed as a girl for most of last year. And her passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.
In December, the
Fountain-Fort Carson School District informed Coy's parents that Coy
would be barred from using the girls' restrooms at Eagleside Elementary
in Fountain after winter break.
She could instead use the boys' bathroom, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms or the nurse's bathroom, the district said.
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In making the decision,
the district "took into account not only Coy but other students in the
building, their parents, and the future impact a boy with male genitals
using a girls' bathroom would have as Coy grew older," attorney W. Kelly
Dude said.
"However, I'm certain you
can appreciate that as Coy grows older and his male genitals develop
along with the rest of his body, at least some parents and students are
likely to become uncomfortable with his continued use of the girls'
restroom."
Coy's parents see it differently.
By forcing Coy to use a
different bathroom than all the other girls, the school is "targeting
her for stigma, bullying and harassment," said Michael Silverman, one of
Coy's lawyers and the executive director of the Transgender Legal
Defense & Education Fund.
"Coy's school has the
opportunity to turn this around and teach Coy's classmates a valuable
lesson about friendship, respect and basic fairness."
On Wednesday, Coy's parents will announce that they will file a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division.
An unstudied group
Transgender children
experience a disconnect between their sex, which is anatomy, and their
gender, which includes behaviors, roles and activities.
For the general public,
transgender identity is a somewhat new concept, though many might recall
Chaz Bono, who was born female to entertainers Sonny and Cher and
appeared on last year's "Dancing with the Stars," in part, he said, to
destigmatize being transgender.
In his 40s, Bono underwent a transition to become a man. He wrote in his book "Transition" that even in his childhood, he had been "aware of a part of me that did not fit."
Comprehensive data and
studies about transgender children are rare. The rates of people who are
transgender vary from 1 in 30,000 to 1 in 1,000, depending on various
international studies.
Some children as young
as 3 show early signs of gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder,
mental health experts who work with transgender children say.
These children are not
intersex -- they do not have a physical disorder or malformation of
their sexual organs. The gender issue exists in the brain, though
whether it's psychological or physiological is debated by experts.
Many transgender children report feeling discomfort with their gender as early as they can remember.
Gender identity often
gets confused with sexual orientation. The difference is that "gender
identity is who you are and sexual orientation is who you want to have
sex with," said Dr. Johanna Olson, a professor of clinical pediatrics at
the University of Southern California who treats transgender children.
When talking about young
children around age 3, they're probably not interested in sexual
orientation, she said. But experts say some children look like they will
be transgender in early childhood, and turn out to be gay, lesbian or
bisexual.
Differences in schools
School policies toward transgender students vary across the U.S.
In New York, for example, the law says students can't be discriminated against on the basis of their gender identity.
In Maine, on the other
hand, a court ruled in November that a school district did not violate a
transgender student's rights when she was told she couldn't use the
girl's restroom.
Dude, the attorney, has
said there are no Colorado cases that require public schools to permit
transgender students to use restrooms of the gender with which they
identify.
He added that the
Fountain-Fort Carson School District adheres to the Colorado
Anti-Discrimination Act because "Coy attends class as all other
students, is permitted to wear girls' clothes, and is referred to as the
parents have requested."
She also has easy access to bathrooms other than the girls' restroom, Dude said.
Coy's case will be the
first to challenge such a restriction under the state's
anti-discrimination act, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education
Fund said.
For now, the first-grader is being home-schooled.
CNN's Cristy Lenz and Madison Park contributed to this report.
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