Schools lead gender debate
there are probably many New Zealanders who still agree with them, gender is simple. You were born a girl or a boy.
That physical definition also applies to your identity, they argue. For them, gender identity is entirely located in the body.
But a growing worldwide movement sees it differently. They argue that gender is a social and psychological construct rather than simply a physical definition.
People who are transgender could therefore identify as male, female or third gender, regardless of their sex at birth.
According to 2016 figures, 1.2 per cent of New Zealand secondary school students are transgender.
The Adolescent Health Survey found more than half are afraid of being hurt or bullied at school and they tend to self-harm and experience depression at levels that are much higher than average. It takes courage to be different at school and as the group Rainbow Youth has said, our schools must go further in supporting transgender youth.
School boards and principals usually want to do the right thing and these moves simply reflect our increasing diversity.
The fact that they have a relationship to sex and gender, which are already provocative issues for groups such as Family First, has made them more controversial than other measures to include diverse students.
Family First’s opposition to transgender bathrooms seems to have been imported wholesale from the United States, where campaigns have been much noisier and more highprofile.
One wonders why the middle-aged and older men who typically lead such campaigns should be so concerned about which bathrooms are used by teenagers.
President Donald Trump recently abolished federal guidelines on school bathrooms introduced by Barack Obama.
It was widely understood to be a roll back of transgender rights, despite Trump’s earlier promises to defend gay, lesbian and transgender communities.
Thankfully New Zealand does not offer such fertile ground for a conservative backlash and has historically been progressive on issues of personal freedom and identity.