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The teacher was concerned for ‘their’ personal safety.
Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”
In an outrageous demand that turns the concept of civil rights on its head, a fifth grade teacher in the Tumwater School District in Washington State rejected the placement of a 10-year-old child in ‘their’ class because the student is the son of a conservative school board member who rejects transgender ideology and objects to biological boys competing in girls’ sports.
The origins of the conflict extend back to last February when school board member and father of a student in the district Casey Taylor joined a 3-1 majority in voting for a resolution stating that only biological females should compete in girls and women’s sports within the school district. The resolution was merely symbolic, since it is superseded by Washington State law which absurdly protects the right of students to join whatever team aligns with their “gender identity.” But the vote had real-life ramifications for the board members.
Fellow school board member Darby Kaikkonen, who also voted for the resolution protecting girls’ rights, was put on administrative leave and then fired from her full-time job with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), despite an unblemished work history. Kaikkonen is currently suing OSPI and its director along with the State of Washington for retaliatory termination.
The board vote in favor of girls’ rights led to months of harassment and disruption from radical transactivists at every subsequent school board meeting. Video clips show masked attendees wielding transgender flags screaming “Trans rights are human rights” to make conducting school business impossible.
In an attempt to limit the effects of the protests, Tumwater school board meetings were moved from a centralized district building to a local elementary school and security was increased, but to little effect. The actions of the transtifa activists were so extreme that in June the school board made the announcement that all future meetings would be held virtually due to, among other incidents, “Property damage; assault of an agent working on behalf of the district; exits being blocked; employee vehicles being rushed by protestors when exiting the building; and a recent threat of bodily harm against members of the school board, currently being investigated by law enforcement.”
Amidst all this turmoil, school board member Casey Taylor was facing much more personal repercussions. The elementary school principal told Taylor’s wife that one of the fifth grade teachers, a person who identifies as “non-binary” and insists on being referred to as “Mx. Thornton,” was objecting to his son, who was then a 4th grade student in the district, from being placed in ‘their’ class for the upcoming school year.
Taylor rightly rejected this request as wholesale discrimination due to the family’s political views and withdrew their son from the district for his own well-being while filing a misconduct complaint against the non-binary teacher.
Forced by Taylor’s complaint to investigate, the school district hired an independent firm to verify the details of his accusation. What they found is deeply disturbing. The investigation confirmed that Mx. Thornton did in fact approach the school principal claiming that “they” were concerned for “their” personal safety if Taylor’s son were to be assigned to “their” class.