What are BGP's thoughts on this?

 

 

Mother of transgender 7-year-old talks about Eli becoming Ella - Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV

OWEN COUNTY, KY (FOX19) -

Nicki Sullivan says her child, designated male at birth, has always identified herself as female. After seeking advice from GLSEN, a gay lesbian and straight education network, last Monday Nicki's 7-year-old daughter Ella made her identity public.

 

"She came back Monday as a girl. New teacher, new wardrobe, new backpack, completely changed. She was introduced as a new student, Ella Grace,” explained Nicki Sullivan.

 

Sullivan says over the last week Owen County Elementary School has been more than accommodating to her transgender 7-year-old daughter Ella providing a unisex restroom and protecting her from potential bullying.

 

"They've been supportive. There hasn't been any issues with the school at all,” said Sullivan.

 

But parents of Ella's 2nd grade classmates are concerned.

 

"I've told my son to be nice when he sees this boy. I've told him to never refer to him a girl because that is not what he is,” said Caynah Lindsey.

 

Lindsey says Ella's new name and new wardrobe is confusing to other kids including her own.

 

"To me, a boy who on Friday is a boy and on Monday decides to be a girl, to me that's a major distraction. Our kids shouldn't have to go through that. It's one thing when they are older or in high school. They are adults. They can make decisions. But we are talking about a 7-year-old child. How does a 7-year-old know what they want?” said Lindsey.

 

Nicki says this isn't about any other child but her own and allowing Ella to be who she has always been.

 

"People have said they're going to pull their kids out of the same class, stupid things like that but I'm not worried about it. She's the same kid. Different name. Different clothes,” said Sullivan.

 

Sullivan says Ella has been chased on the playground, her clothes pulled and some children have asked her mean questions but school officials have been monitoring the situation and disciplining those children. Sullivan also says she has received threats through Facebook from adults who disagree with the change.

 

The superintendent of Owen County schools Rob Strafford would not comment on this specific case but says it's their job to provide a safe learning environment for all children regardless of gender, race or any other specification.

 

Copyright 2014 WXIX. All rights reserved.

After reading through the story once, I'm currently in agreement that a seven year old can't make that kind of decision on his/her own. I think this is heavily influenced by mom.

This confirms once again, that people are stupid. Nobody dumber than people.

As long as the kid wasn't using the same bathroom or locker room facilities as my girl then I'd have no problem with it. It would definitely be a tough thing to explain to my child at that age though.

On a brighter note, we aren't far from seeing windmill dunks in girls basketball.

On a brighter note, we aren't far from seeing windmill dunks in girls basketball.

 

Silver lining.

We're all born naked and the rest is drag.

 

We as small children know nothing of before being taught, what the difference is between socially accepted norms of feminine and masculine. It's ingrained in us from day one, and in very short order we see it as innate.

 

We move along into our adult lives and just somehow see it as innate and normal because we knew nothing else.

 

Generally is there a difference between male and female when it comes to body parts and physical strength etc...?

 

Absolutely, but there's nothing terribly innate about the socially acceptable clothing norms or even hair styles that we've come to acknowledge as being normal.

 

Why actually do we accept women to wear dresses? I've no knowledge of this, but it seems perhaps to be rooted in making life easier to empty a bladder, and perhaps even to have easier access for intercourse?

 

We don't typically think about it much, and just accept it as the way that it is, and it being the norm.

 

We seem as a society to be intent on people dressing in accepted norms, and if you don't you could be cast out, shunned, or laughed at.

 

I personally dress like the accepted norm for being a man, and I'm completely comfortable with that.

 

Knowing that society would have issues with me otherwise, I'm not particularly interested in drawing unwanted attention or ridicule to myself, so I'm not out in public trying to make any statements to others that might be considered to be radical considering that I'm well aware that the general population would miss any point I might be trying to make anyhow.

 

It's not that important to me, and in fact, being invisible to ward off unwanted trouble would be more important to me.

 

Welcome to society... Conform or be cast out. Individualism discouraged, mediocrity encouraged.

After reading through the story once, I'm currently in agreement that a seven year old can't make that kind of decision on his/her own. I think this is heavily influenced by mom.

Mom wants the attention.

 

Similarties to

Munchhausen by Proxy.

 

Also, I have a 7-yr-old. No way he would be able to just accept this at face value without still questioning. No way that I could expect my child to never make innocent kid like comments that could be perceived as insensitive or hurtful, without trying to be mean.

We're all born naked and the rest is drag.

 

We as small children know nothing of before being taught, what the difference is between socially accepted norms of feminine and masculine. It's ingrained in us from day one, and in very short order we see it as innate.

 

We move along into our adult lives and just somehow see it as innate and normal because we knew nothing else.

 

Generally is there a difference between male and female when it comes to body parts and physical strength etc...?

 

Absolutely, but there's nothing terribly innate about the socially acceptable clothing norms or even hair styles that we've come to acknowledge as being normal.

 

Why actually do we accept women to wear dresses? I've no knowledge of this, but it seems perhaps to be rooted in making life easier to empty a bladder, and perhaps even to have easier access for intercourse?

 

We don't typically think about it much, and just accept it as the way that it is, and it being the norm.

 

We seem as a society to be intent on people dressing in accepted norms, and if you don't you could be cast out, shunned, or laughed at.

 

I personally dress like the accepted norm for being a man, and I'm completely comfortable with that.

 

Knowing that society would have issues with me otherwise, I'm not particularly interested in drawing unwanted attention or ridicule to myself, so I'm not out in public trying to make any statements to others that might be considered to be radical considering that I'm well aware that the general population would miss any point I might be trying to make anyhow.

 

It's not that important to me, and in fact, being invisible to ward off unwanted trouble would be more important to me.

 

Welcome to society... Conform or be cast out. Individualism discouraged, mediocrity encouraged.

Nice post! :thumb:

 

Right or wrong, it is what it is. Society has cast the mold. We cannot expect this child's 7-yr-old classmates to embrace the new identity without a bazillion questions.

Nice post! :thumb:

 

Right or wrong, it is what it is. Society has cast the mold. We cannot expect this child's 7-yr-old classmates to embrace the new identity without a bazillion questions.

 

No doubt... In general it would be unusual if they didn't ask questions.

 

I'm glad that you got what I was getting at, and I trust others here will too.

 

With society at large, in general, I'm not confident that they can, or have the capacity to, so lots will inevitably turn to their children and keep claiming a right way and a wrong way as if there really is one when it's an attitude, decision, and behavior evolving from social conditioning, but they themselves are typically unaware of that.

This seems to capture it:

 

"To me, a boy who on Friday is a boy and on Monday decides to be a girl, to me that's a major distraction. Our kids shouldn't have to go through that. It's one thing when they are older or in high school. They are adults. They can make decisions. But we are talking about a 7-year-old child. How does a 7-year-old know what they want?” said Lindsey.

 

Even if the approach is 'get it done early' and even if it is the right approach there should be a transition and some sort of buffering and time involved for all. To expect everyone to just go on like nothing unusual happened from one day to the other is not really reasonable. Take him/him out of school for a period of time (a week - maybe more) make 'the change'. And endure the let school/teachers, etc. explain what happened befoer the child arrives.

 

I am not sure relying on GLSEN for the primary advice is good. I would think child psychologists and child psychiatrists, especially those who specialize in gender identity, would be the right avenue.

We're all born naked and the rest is drag.

 

We as small children know nothing of before being taught, what the difference is between socially accepted norms of feminine and masculine. It's ingrained in us from day one, and in very short order we see it as innate.

We move along into our adult lives and just somehow see it as innate and normal because we knew nothing else.

 

Generally is there a difference between male and female when it comes to body parts and physical strength etc...?

 

Absolutely, but there's nothing terribly innate about the socially acceptable clothing norms or even hair styles that we've come to acknowledge as being normal.

 

Why actually do we accept women to wear dresses? I've no knowledge of this, but it seems perhaps to be rooted in making life easier to empty a bladder, and perhaps even to have easier access for intercourse?

 

We don't typically think about it much, and just accept it as the way that it is, and it being the norm.

 

We seem as a society to be intent on people dressing in accepted norms, and if you don't you could be cast out, shunned, or laughed at.

 

I personally dress like the accepted norm for being a man, and I'm completely comfortable with that.

 

Knowing that society would have issues with me otherwise, I'm not particularly interested in drawing unwanted attention or ridicule to myself, so I'm not out in public trying to make any statements to others that might be considered to be radical considering that I'm well aware that the general population would miss any point I might be trying to make anyhow.

 

It's not that important to me, and in fact, being invisible to ward off unwanted trouble would be more important to me.

 

Welcome to society... Conform or be cast out. Individualism discouraged, mediocrity encouraged.

 

I tried to read it all, I got most of it. But the bolded is 100% biochemically untrue regardless of your social stance on the issue. Totally false.

I personally dress like the accepted norm for being a man, and I'm completely comfortable with that.

 

Knowing that society would have issues with me otherwise, I'm not particularly interested in drawing unwanted attention or ridicule to myself, so I'm not out in public trying to make any statements to others that might be considered to be radical considering that I'm well aware that the general population would miss any point I might be trying to make anyhow.

 

It's not that important to me, and in fact, being invisible to ward off unwanted trouble would be more important to me.

 

Welcome to society... Conform or be cast out. Individualism discouraged, mediocrity encouraged.

 

Would you personally prefer to dress differently, but conform because it is easier?

Should have just named him/her Pat.