Link.
"SUMMARY: In settling a lawsuit brought by an openly gay junior high student, an Arkansas district agreed to change policies in order to protect GLBT students.
“In addition, the district will expunge McLaughlin’s disciplinary record, issue a formal apology and pay a total of $25,000 in damages and legal fees.”
I would think that he could have gotten a lot more but perhaps changing the policy was the most important thing.
I swear, I would require that the formal apology be done in caligraphy and framed. 
I wonder what was in the disciplinary record.
Was it all stuff related to this whole mess, or are they throwing out stuff he did that had nothing to do with the situation?
And I’m curious, so I’ll ask.
I can see how a student could be G, L, or B. But T? Transgendered? At age 14? Who in the hell would do a sex change on a kid?
By this I mean changing someone fully male to female or vice versa, not those who have genetic issues, etc.
Doesn’t a sex change take years, with the counseling and all? What doctor would trust a teenager to make a decision like that?
Or do they just throw in the “T” part because “GLB” would look weird without the T?
I think that, at age 14, a transgendered kid might have an idea that he felt more like a she, or vice versa, even if surgery won’t be a viable option for years yet. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember one of our resident transsexuals once saying that she felt she ought to be a girl even younger than that.
I’d assume that’s the kind of kid the ‘T’ refers to, or else it could refer to a kid born with ambiguous gender parts. I can only imagine what it would be like to be a junior high school student with both boy and girl parts… as if puberty isn’t hard enough.
Snoopyfan, as I understand it, no doctor would be willing to perform gender correction surgery (I don’t recall what the particular medical terminology is right now, but this seems to be reflective and respectful) on a 14-year-old unless there were compelling documentation to show reason for it. Double the age of the patient and that’s still pretty much the case.
GLBT is used to refer to, as you said, people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Someone can be transgender without having had corrective surgery. The process takes several years even from diagnosis to surgery. Link regarding the surgery methods and such. See also this (warning: not work safe and medically graphic as well as pictorially).
Wow. That is great.
Someone can be transgender without having had corrective surgery.
Ohhh, okay.
I thought you weren’t transgendered until you had the surgery.
I hadn’t realized we were supposed to be hoping for sexuality discrimination and bigotry in schools :eek:
Some transsexuals realize they’re transsexual as early as age 3. One of the more contentious debates in gender dysphoria counseling right now is at what age it is acceptable to begin hormone treatments, or at least hormone suppression treatments, for so-called “primary transsexuals”. Note also that parents and doctors who have concluded that hormone treatments are appropriate for a minor have, on occasion, had their child taken away by the state for “child abuse”.
Yeah between that and the Star Wars reference in the title I thought this thread was about something totally different.