WTF

[conuly]

Transphobia An Unacceptable Part Of A VA Middle School's Mass Shooting Drill

So, I can sort of see the "omg trans" argument for locker rooms because people are changing their clothes. I don't agree with it (except inasmuch as I think we should provide a reasonable number of private changing cubicles for those people who prefer a curtain), but I can sort of see the point about nudity/privacy, especially as locker rooms are gender segregated in the US. (I don't even get that far with the same freakout over bathrooms. People, this is why we have stalls!)

But unless this school has an extremely novel approach to gun safety, these students weren't naked, or even in their undies. They were simply sheltering in locker rooms and bathrooms until the end of the drill*. What possible harm could anybody imagine could come from clothed students being fully clothed together in the locker room!?

* Active shooter drills are a whole 'nother issue I don't intend to tackle here.

Comments

[larryhammer]

*points to icon*

[conuly]

Yup.

[dewline]

"What the Hell are the people who organized those drills thinking?", I asked rhetorically...

[conuly]

See, the problem is that you assume they were thinking.

[cellio]

There are too many words in that sentence...

[spikethemuffin]

I saw this and it made me want to club things.

[conuly]

1. Interesting application of that quote on your icon.

2. I KNOW.

[spikethemuffin]

Unsettling mute mascots take on a whole different context when you think of that story...

[gwydion]

Basically, they don't consider Trans children human, so they are okay with them dying for no reason and are similarly happy to out this girl in order to make her life hell to punish her for her difference.

[conuly]

It's disgusting, really.

[malkingrey]

Well, at least it came to light during a drill and not during the real and horrible thing.

[conuly]

Small comfort!

[malkingrey]

Sometimes, alas, that's the only kind of comfort on offer.

[silveradept]

That's unacceptable. In a situation that's supposed to be about life and death, I don't think anyone's going to be quibbling about gender identity if they're all scared for their lives.

At least now we know that the faculty at that school should have some mandatory gender training to do. Again. And again. Until they get it right and put it into action correctly and consistently..

[cellio]

That is fucked up. A shooter means *life and death*, and everybody was *dressed* anyway. Sheesh.

I'm one of those people who would like privacy in a locker room. It has nothing to do with transphobia; it's because (a) I have strong religious restrictions about who can see me naked, and (b) I'm fat and unattractive and just don't want to be showing my whole body to anybody who deosn't need to see it. I wouldn't use a locker room that couldn't guarantee me that visual privacy.

*Bathrooms*, on the other hand -- that's just silly. I'd rather that all multi-seater bathrooms just be declared to be for everybody, so that I wouldn't have to wait in a line at the women's room while the men's room goes empty. We have stalls, for heaven's sake! Which men who don't want to be seen at urinals could also use. (Though I imagine that seeing would require some effort, given how they're usually positioned.)