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Voters Oppose Obama’s Transgender Bathroom Mandate by Wide Margin: Poll

A strong majority of voters disapprove of Barack Obama’s mandate that public schools and universities open their restrooms and private facilities to the opposite sex, according to a new poll.

Voters in the swing states of Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania told Quinnipiac University pollsters they disapproved of the Obama administration’s controversial federal guidance requiring public schools and universities to allow transgender students to use the restrooms, showers, and overnight accommodations of the opposite biological sex or lose federal funding.

Polls found respondents in those three states opposed the measure by an average of 14 percentage points.

In Ohio, 55 percent opposed the Obama administration policy, while 36 percent supported.

Florida voters opposed the measure 54-37. (Read more from “Voters Oppose Obama’s Transgender Bathroom Mandate by Wide Margin: Poll” HERE)

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Transgender Appeals Judge’s Ruling Denying Her Bid to Use Male Name

A Georgia judge who rejected the name change proposed by a transgendered woman who identifies as a man is facing a challenge to his decision.

Columbia County Superior Court Judge J. David Roper had ruled that Rebeccah Elizabeth Feldhaus could not change her name to Rowan Elijah.

“The question presented is whether a female has the salutatory right to change her name to a traditionally and obviously male name,” the judge wrote in March. “The court concludes that she does not have such right.”

“I don’t know anybody named Elijah who’s female,” Roper said, according to a hearing transcript. “I’m not going to do that. I’ve never heard of that. And I know who Elijah was, one of the greatest men that ever lived.”

This week, Roper’s decision came under fire as attorneys for Feldhaus filed papers with the Georgia Court of Appeals to overturn Roper’s ruling.

Feldhaus said in a statement that he felt insulted and objectified to be told he can’t use the name that his family, friends and even co-workers already use.

“It can be a scary situation when I show up for work or the first day of class and my legal name does not match my public presentation and my gender identity,” said Feldhaus, who attended Augusta University. “I just want to change my name so that it reflects who I am.”

Roper had said he did not approve of changing male to female names.

“I will allow a gender-neutral name change that will benefit the general public because I don’t want them to have to go through the embarrassing issue of trying to figure out what to do with you when you present, in your appearance today, with a female name, particularly if you had on a uniform and you were dressed like a man,” Roper told Feldhaus, who is in the Army Reserve. (For more from the author of “Transgender Appeals Judge’s Ruling Denying Her Bid to Use Male Name” please click HERE)

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Exclusive: Here’s What Alaskan Mother Blames for Daughter’s Loss to Transgender Boy at Champion Track Meet

As widely reported by national outlets over the past several days, a “transgender” boy was allowed to compete in Alaska’s Girls State Championship track meet last week. He placed third at the meet, bumping Mat-Su resident Jennifer VanPelt’s daughter, Allison, from the medal platform.

In a subsequent exclusive interview with Restoring Liberty, Ms. VanPelt revealed that neither she nor her daughter knew that a boy had competed in the girls’ race until sometime later, after media reports came out about it. When they read the boy’s name – “Wangyot” – in one article, Ms. VanPelt exclaimed to her daughter, “Wait! He raced against you! He placed ahead of you, he knocked you out of medal contention!” Her daughter, once the implication of this sunk in, was “really upset.”

Ms. VanPelt told me that Allison “busts her butt seven days a week to train to be able to beat most of the females in this state,” but that she doesn’t “bust her butt to beat a guy [because] men are physically different than women. She can’t grow a bigger heart, or bigger lungs, or more muscle mass like a boy.”

Upset over the fact that her hard-working daughter had been cheated out of a medal, Ms. VanPelt engaged. Even though she does not consider herself politically active – and has been described as “an introvert who raises chickens in [her] backyard” – Ms. VanPelt made her opinion widely known on social media. Several national media groups picked up her comments and now she finds herself at the epicenter of this important issue.

As part of her effort to expose what happened here in Alaska, Ms. VanPelt looked into why the ASAA (Alaska State Athletic Association) is allowing boys to compete in female events. She learned that individual school districts are now given the choice as to whether boys may compete against girls. If a district allows it, the State’s athletic program will not challenge that decision.

Ms. VanPelt thinks this is crazy and so do “close to 9-out-of-10 people” she talks to about allowing boy athletes to compete against girls. She counts as her supporters not just conservatives but liberals, feminists, and members of the LGBT community.

Essentially, Ms. VanPelt says this all boils down to a new cultural norm: the “right as a transgender supersedes your right as a female.” And she’s none too pleased that Alaska political leaders are refusing to speak out against the ASAA’s misogynistic policy.

Ms. VanPelt thinks that “out-of-control political correctness” in the culprit: “we’ve been groomed as a society that we don’t want to hurt other peoples’ feelings, so we shouldn’t speak out about it. We should just keep quiet and turn our heads.”

In looking toward the future, Ms. VanPelt warns “today were dealing with one transgender, what happens when half the field [are transgender]?

To stop this from happening, Ms. VanPelt believes there need to be more people of courage willing to “step it up and say, yeah, this isn’t right, were starting to get out-of-control here.”

I agree. Alaskan leaders – political and religious – should be ashamed for staying silent. They should be embarrassed into action. But we should celebrate those like Jennifer VanPelt who are almost singlehandedly taking on the elites and trying to reverse their perverse agenda.

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I Wish I Had Been Told About These Risks Before I Had Gender Surgery

Many Americans are unaware of the serious problems that face transgender persons.

For instance, a 2016 study comparing 20 Lebanese transgender participants to 20 control subjects reported that transgender individuals suffer from more psychiatric pathologies compared to the general population. More than 50 percent had active suicidal thoughts and 45 percent had had a major depressive episode.

While it may not be politically correct to link psychological disorders with the transgender population, the researchers see the evidence that a link exists. As a former transgender person, I wish the guy who approved me for gender surgery would have told me about the risks.

Quick to Diagnose

The experience of many gender-confused individuals is that medical professionals are quick to reach a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and recommend immediate cross-gender hormone therapy and irreversible reassignment surgery without investigating and treating the coexisting issues. Research has found that powerful psychological issues, such as anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or alcohol or drug dependence often accompany gender dysphoria.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in March 2016 shows a high prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses in a sample of 298 young transgender women aged 16 through 29 years old.

More than 40 percent had coexisting mental health or substance dependence diagnoses. One in five had two or more psychiatric diagnoses. The most commonly occurring disorders were major depressive episodes and non-alcohol psychoactive substance use dependence.

Yet, transgender individuals are never required to undergo any objective test to prove their gender dysphoria—because no diagnostic objective test exists.

The cause of this condition can’t be verified through lab results, a brain scan, or review of the DNA make-up.

Research studies from 2013 and 2009 looking for a “transgender gene” showed not a smidgeon of abnormality in the genetic make-up that causes someone to be transgender.

No alterations in the main sex-determining genes in male-to-female transsexual individuals were found, suggesting strongly that male-born transgender persons are normal males biologically.

Psychological Care Urgently Needed

The study concluded that improved access to medical and psychological care “are urgently needed to address mental health and substance dependence disorders in this population.”

On the contrary, it did not conclude that improved access to bathrooms, hormones, or surgery are urgently needed.

A 2015 study of 118 individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria found that 29.6 percent were also found to have dissociative disorders and a high prevalence of lifetime major depressive episodes (45.8 percent), suicide attempts (21.2 percent), and childhood trauma (45.8 percent).

It also remarked that differentiating between a diagnosis of dissociative disorder and gender dysphoria is difficult because the two can closely resemble each other.

Another study found a “surprisingly high prevalence of emotional maltreatment” in the 41 transsexuals studied. It called for further investigation to clarify the effects of traumatic childhood experiences and the correlation between transsexualism and dissociative identity.

That finding tracks with what I experienced in my transgender life. In my life and in the lives of those whose families contact me, traumatic childhood experiences are present 100 percent of the time.

Childhood Gender Dysphoria

One area where medical professionals should tread lightly is in the diagnosis and treatment of children who have gender identity issues.

A 2015 study aimed to gather input from pediatric endocrinologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and ethicists—both those in favor and those opposed to early treatment—to further the ethical debate.

The results showed no consensus on many basic topics of childhood gender dysphoria and insufficient research to support any recommendations for childhood treatments, including the currently published guidelines that recommend suppressing puberty with drugs until age 16, after which cross-sex hormones may be given.

An analysis of the 38 youth referrals for gender dysphoria to the Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic at the University School of Medicine in Indianapolis showed that more than half had psychiatric and/or developmental comorbidities.

Without sufficient research and consensus on treatment of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and knowing over half have coexisting disorders, any invasive treatment, even if recommended by the current guidelines, is simply an experiment.

It’s time to stop using children as experiments.

Transgender Persons Are Struggling Psychologically

Transgender individuals need psychotherapy not access to cross-sex restrooms, showers, and dressing areas. Blaming society for the ills of transgender persons will not improve their diagnosis and treatment.

Reckless disregard for the mental disorders in favor of enforcing preferred pronouns is madness. It’s time to show compassion by telling the truth and stop pretending they are born that way.

True compassion is acknowledging the mental disorders and providing effective, sound treatment in an effort to slow the staggering number of suicides, before rushing to perform irreversible surgeries. (For more from the author of “I Wish I Had Been Told About These Risks Before I Had Gender Surgery” please click HERE)

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School District Grapples With the Transgender Debate

A few short miles outside of Washington, D.C., a public school community appears divided over a policy that allows transgender students to use the bathrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-specific facilities in accordance with their gender identity.

Supporters view it as a positive step in the name of equality, while opponents view it as an infringement on the privacy and safety rights of the rest of the students.

In some ways, this community, Fairfax County, Virginia, has been ground zero for the transgender issue. Last spring, a year before the Obama administration issued guidance mandating that transgender students be granted access to facilities that match their gender identity, the Fairfax County School Board passed its own transgender non-discrimination policy.

This has made Fairfax County a test case, in some ways, of what’s to come with the Obama administration’s new transgender policy.

To find out how the community is dealing with the issue, The Daily Signal attended a Fairfax County School Board meeting, where we spoke with people on both sides of the debate. Watch the video to hear their response. (For more from the author of “School District Grapples With the Transgender Debate” please click HERE)

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Mother of Girl Who Lost Race to Transgender Athlete Speaks out — and She’s Furious

In May, an Alaska high school student became the first transgender athlete to compete individually for a high school state championship. As TheBlaze previously reported, Nattaphon “Ice” Wangyot, who was born male but identifies as female, qualified and competed in the Class 3A girls’ sprints at the Alaska state meet, taking home third place in the 200-meter dash (27.3 seconds) and fifth in the 100 (13.36 seconds).

Since the race, Wangyot’s story has made national headlines, earning the 18-year-old Haines High School athlete widespread praise for contributions to the LGBT movement.

But not everyone was celebrating the high schooler’s success. After the story was reported by KTVA-TV, Jennifer VanPelt, a mother of one of the girls who competed and lost, took to the comments section of the news station’s article.

After one commenter named Stephanie Leigh Golman Williams noted with frustration that a runner named Aurora Waclowski, who “has been top three since freshman” year, was knocked off the awards podium by a male-born runner, VanPelt clarified that it was actually her daughter, not Aurora, who was cut.

“Actually Aurora was still given an award for 4th and was able to still stand up on the awards podium. It was my daughter who finished 5th that missed out,” she wrote.

(Read more from “Mother of Girl Who Lost Race to Transgender Athlete Speaks out — and She’s Furious” HERE)

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HS Track Athlete Was Born Male but Identifies as Female — and and Turns in Quite the Run at Alaska State Championships

Nattaphon “Ice” Wangyot, who was born male but identifies as female, recently became the first transgender athlete to compete individually for a high school state championship, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

Wangyot, an 18-year-old senior at Haines High School, qualified and competed in the Class 3A girls’ sprints at the Alaska state meet, taking home third place in the 200-meter dash (27.3 seconds) and fifth in the 100 (13.36 seconds). Wangyot also played for the girls volleyball and basketball teams this past year, USA Today High School Sports said.

Wangyot’s participation didn’t come without controversy, as Alaska Family Action president Jim Minnery and supporters protested outside the event last Friday:

“We are here today as a voice from the community to ensure that female athletes are not denied the playing opportunities and scholarships otherwise available to them and to make the playing field even again,” Minnery said, according to the Dispatch News. “… Allowing students to play on teams of the opposite sex disproportionately impacts female students who will lose spots on track, soccer and volleyball teams to male students who identify as female.”

Fairbanks Hutchinson junior Saskia Harrison turned in a time of 14.11 seconds in the 100-meter dash, which wasn’t fast enough to make the cut — and she wasn’t particularly thrilled that Wangyot advanced. (Read more from “HS Track Athlete Was Born Male but Identifies as Female — and and Turns in Quite the Run at Alaska State Championships” HERE)

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These Parents Pulled Their Kids out of School for a Week Over Obama’s Bathroom Directive

A Michigan family pulled their three sons out of public school for a week after finding out from their 9-year-old son that he had to share a restroom with a biological girl.

On May 13, the departments of Education and Justice issued a directive to schools around the nation, threatening to take away federal school funding if districts do not equate gender identity as a student’s biological sex.

The dad who pulled his kids out of school, Matt Stewart, told The Daily Signal that his 9-year-old son, who attends Southwest Elementary School in Howell, Michigan, informed him on Friday, May 20, that a girl was using the same restroom as him, at the same time.

“On Monday we had a conversation with our son’s teacher and the principal,” Stewart said. The next day, on May 24, Matt and his wife Lindsay removed their three boys, all who attend Southwest Elementary, from Howell Public Schools.

Stewart says that Erin MacGregor, the school district superintendent, suggested that his son could be accommodated with a single-use or unisex bathroom if the 9-year-old was uncomfortable with the current bathroom situation.

“As parents, we decided we were not going to force our children to make the decision between confusion, humiliation, and embarrassment,” Stewart told Kim Russell with WXYZ 7 Action News, Detroit’s ABC TV station.

A spokesperson for Howell Public Schools told The Daily Signal in an email that the school district could not comment regarding if a biological girl had been allowed to use the boys restroom at Southwest Elementary School, as the issue is a matter of student privacy. “Single-use bathrooms are available to any student who wishes to use one,” the spokesperson noted in reference to the accommodations available for Stewart’s son.

Stewart says that MacGregor confirmed with him on May 24 that there was no district-wide policy in place on this issue and that the superintendent had made the final decision allowing students to use the restroom of their choice, without prior notification to parents. The school district spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Signal that this information is correct.

On May 25, parents were informed through email of the school district’s intent to comply with President Barack Obama’s administration’s transgender student directive.

Meanwhile, Stewart was “hopeful that the superintendent and school board would be open to creating a policy where every student felt comfortable.”

“We are hopeful as parents that that would be a discussion that would involve members of the community in an open and transparent manner,” he said.

During the week Stewart’s kids were not in Howell Public Schools, the dad says the school district took “a 180” on the issue after those in the community spoke up.

The school district “changed their position” on May 31, Stewart told The Daily Signal.

“At Howell Public Schools we work tirelessly to create an inclusive environment where all students feel welcome, safe, and secure,” a statement given to The Daily Signal by a spokesperson for the school district says. The school district has decided to press pause on the Obama administration’s transgender student directive while it gathers feedback on the issue. The school district’s statement says:

At this time, we do not currently have any students using a restroom other than that designated for their biological gender, or requesting to do so. In light of this, we are pausing on the federal guidance issued to all school districts across the nation in a joint letter on transgender students issued by the Department of Justice and Department of Education on May 13, 2016, while we work to provide opportunities in the coming weeks to gather feedback on this matter. This feedback will further inform the board of education as they engage in a thoughtful approach to shape policies, practices, and guidelines consistent with legal requirements. Like districts across the state and country, Howell Public Schools and its board of education are staying apprised of the changing federal, state, and local dynamics relating to this matter.

“We have never sought to deprive any other student of their rights only to protect the rights of our own children,” Stewart said. He added:

This is an example of how we can make a difference in our communities. An injustice was brought to our attention and Lindsay and I spoke out, made others aware and shined a spotlight on what we felt was a hasty decision which was not well thought out. We appreciate the district’s responsiveness and are hopeful that they will be more cautious and thoughtful in the future on decisions which affect so many.

According to Stewart, MacGregor, the district’s superintendent, confirmed with him that Howell Public Schools will “only provide access to restrooms designated for a student’s birth gender or to a single-user facility” while the school district works to finalize policies and guidelines.

“We also trust that as they seek wisdom on the correct course that they will give parents the opportunity to have a voice,” Stewart said. “And when that happens we will speak up. For now, we will be sending our kids back to school with their assurances.” (For more from the author of “These Parents Pulled Their Kids out of School for a Week Over Obama’s Bathroom Directive” please click HERE)

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State Leader Quits ACLU After Daughters Were ‘Visibly Frightened’ by Men Using Women’s Restroom

The African-American woman who leads a state chapter of the ACLU has resigned, citing her own daughters’ “frightened” reaction to biological males using the women’s restroom.

The organization’s increasing focus on legislating the transgender lobby’s concerns pushed Maya Dillard Smith, interim director of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, to tender her resignation.

“I have shared my personal experience of having taken my elementary school age daughters into a women’s restroom when shortly after three transgender young adults, over six feet [tall] with deep voices, entered,” she wrote.

“My children were visibly frightened, concerned about their safety and left asking lots of questions for which I, like many parents, was ill-prepared to answer,” she continued.

In a statement, she said that the ACLU has become “a special interest organization that promotes not all, but certain progressive rights.” (Read more from “State Leader Quits ACLU After Daughters Were ‘Visibly Frightened’ by Men Using Women’s Restroom” HERE)

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Massachusetts House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill to Abolish Biological Sex

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts jumped on the transgender bathroom bandwagon Wednesday when its House of Representatives voted 116-36 to move forward with a bill that legally replaces the concept of biological sex with that of gender identity.

The “Gender Identity Public Accommodations Bill,” or H.4343, seeks to further push for transgender “anti-discrimination” laws in three separate parts.

First, it would amend multiple areas of Massachusetts law to replace the word “sex,” with “gender identity.” Secondly, it would mandate that “[a]ny public accommodation…shall grant all persons admission to and the full enjoyment of such public accommodation or other entity consistent with the person’s gender identity,” while finally ordering the the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to amend rules and policies to comply with the redefinition of sex to gender identity.

“We are doing the work the founders of our nation intended for us to do,” said co-sponsor Byron Rushing of the bill prior to its passage. “This is a great day for us and we should be very proud.”

“This is a historic day for Massachusetts,” reads a statement from pro-transgender group Freedom Massachusetts. “The wave of legislative activity #TransBillMA has seen in the last two months is the culmination of a decade-long fight to fully protect transgender people from discrimination in the Bay State.”

Others, however, were not so convinced of the law’s merit.

“This legislation takes rights away from 99.9% of the population,” said Rep. James Lyons of Andover (R), who voted against the measure. “Every parent that I have spoken with including a parent of a transgender child understands that this bill eliminates long held expectation of privacy and protection for children.”

“This is a collision of rights. Rights in conflict,” continued Lyons in his emailed statement to Conservative Review. “I have yet to see how changing the law to remove what is currently on the books helps anyone.”

Final vote on passage was delayed by a nearly five-hour round of debate over at least 36 proposed amendments which some likened to a Senate filibuster. The amendments in question included, among several others, provisions to which would have excepted facilities primarily used by minors, such as public school bathrooms and locker rooms, one that would have required proof of medical transition for individuals to use facilities that do not coincide with their biological sex, and one which would have exempted multiple use facilities, “where there is an expectation of privacy” among occupants, from the bill.

Only one of the amendments, a technical rewrite of section 2 of the bill, was adopted.

When debate on the bill began in the early afternoon, Lyons gave an impassioned speech on the House floor against the bill to a response of thunderous applause from the gallery, arguing that it was unnecessary due to the fact that transgender individuals are already protected from discrimination under current law.

“Based on my review, this is a medical issue. How does allowing the use of the bathrooms and locker facilities solve a medical issue and furthermore how does this law achieve the goal of eliminating discrimination?” reiterated Lyons in his statement to CR. “It appears both United States Supreme Court and the Massachusetts Supreme Court have provided guidance that transgender people are protected under existing statutes. MCAD is enforcing current laws. GLAAD states that transgender people are protected. So what is the issue? The issue is should we as legislators eliminate privacy rights and protection for our children.”

The bill, which has already passed in the Massachusetts Senate, now heads to Governor Charlie Baker’s desk, where it will likely receive his signature for final passage.

“We’ve certainly listened to a variety of points of view from many sides and have said, from the beginning, that we don’t want people to be discriminated against,” said the governor in an interview with the Boston Globe on Tuesday. “If the House bill were to pass in its current form, yeah, I would sign it.”

But while the Bay State has passed legislation in line with the recent cultural and legislative push to legally replace biological sex with experienced gender identity, other states are fighting back against it.

Currently, a total of 13 states across the country have banded together in filing a federal lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s recent 25-page letter that all but mandates transgender bathrooms in public schools nationwide.

“Our local schools are now in the crosshairs of the Obama administration, which maintains it will punish those schools who do not comply with its orders. These schools are facing the potential loss of school funding for simply following common sense policies that protect their students,” stated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at the announcement of the lawsuit last week.

Furthermore, in a statement released Tuesday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R) announced that his office would be sending a letter to school districts throughout the state instructing them not to comply with the federal bathroom mandate.

“The President’s threat of withholding federal funds is just a threat. By standing together we will demonstrate Texas will not be threatened or blackmailed by a policy that doesn’t make sense and puts our girls and women at risk.”

Following the announcement of the Administration’s proposed guidelines in May, Patrick accused the President of extortion due to the implied threats that public schools which do not comply could lose federal funding.

“He says he’s going to withhold funding if schools do not follow the policy,” Patrick said a few days after the Administration’s mandate was issued. “Well, in Texas, he can keep his 30 pieces of silver. We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States.”

“So Barack Obama, if schools don’t knuckle down to force girls showering with boys and force 8-year-old girls to have to endure boys coming into their bathroom — he’s taking money from the poorest of the poor. The president of the United States will be ending the free breakfast and free lunch program — that’s what he’s saying.”

A conference committee will convene in the coming weeks to reconcile the differences between the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Massachusetts bill. (For more from the author of “Massachusetts House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill to Abolish Biological Sex” please click HERE)

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