High School Students In Texas Stage A Massive Walkout After A Trans Girl Is Banned From Girls’ Locker Room
Discussions about gender identity and gender expression have always been full of controversy. These ongoing discussions shed some more light on the problem and give hope that some positive changes will be implemented in the future. At least it seems to be happening in Temple, Texas, where Temple High School students organized a huge walkout after one of the students there was banned from using the girls’ locker room because it’s for “actual girls” and not trans people.
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Students of Temple High School organized a peaceful protest after their transgender classmate wasn’t allowed to use the women’s locker room
Image credits: johnny_salami17
Kendall Tinoco is a 16-year-old Temple High School student who is a transgender woman. On September 22, she shared an Instagram post where she revealed that recently she was denied access to the girls’ locker room by one of her teachers because it’s for “actual girls.” At first, the young woman didn’t think much of it because she thought that the teacher was transphobic and continued using the girls’ locker room.
Image credits: 25 News KXXV
Students expressed their support a week after Kendall shared the situation that happened to her with the locker room
Image credits: 25 News KXXV
Kendall also added that she had been using women’s bathrooms since she was in 7th grade and even had a form that stated that no one has the right to tell the girl which bathroom or locker room she should choose. This all led up to the school administration, where they weren’t able to help Kendall much. The situation concluded with authorities saying that they would need to take this even further for her to be recognized as a female and allowed to use the women’s locker room.
Image credits: KCENNews
Image credits: 25 News KXXV
Soon the student’s post went viral and resulted in a peaceful protest organized by the students of Temple High School. On Wednesday, September 29, they walked out of their classrooms and filled the school’s corridors to express their support for their classmate and other transgender people. Soon the internet was full of videos and photos of students standing with LBGTQ+ flags, chanting “Trans lives matter.”
Check out the video from the protest down below
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Kendall Tinoco, who was banned from using a girls’ locker room, shared her horrible experience on Instagram
Image credits: kennlifee
Local news channels were able to receive comments from Kendall as well as from Christine Parks, who is a spokesperson for Temple Independent School District. The student expressed her joy to see “all the transgender, LGBTQ people come together and stand for one another.” The spokesperson revealed that to ensure the safety of the students and those who worked in school, they had to increase security. She also shared that the school’s administration had a meeting with Kendall and her parents to review the guidelines for transgender students.
The key points that had to be reviewed were: the student has to be identified by their legal surname, they have to dress according to the school’s dress code, and to ensure their privacy, a “gender-neutral” bathroom and changing room should be available for them.
People online expressed their support for young people who are not afraid to speak up about such issues as transphobia
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I have to humbly admit I cannot decide how I feel about this issues. I support the LGBTQ community but i legitimately can see both sides of the debate and there are some valid points. Part of me envisions locker rooms as a place where you can be comfortable around individuals with the same physical anatomy. Although to be fair the are still often very uncomfortable to teens of any sex/gender. But until we can clearing define and agree on the purpose of male/female separation in bathrooms and locker rooms in the first place i dont see a universal solution. Do we separate them for sexual attraction? For a sense of sameness? To avoid having your body viewed by someone who sees it as a sexual object? I think some of these debates stem from a changing world we are all trying to adapt to and not just a place of hate and discrimination.
I think that we could make it easier if they made stalls like in bathrooms. As a teenager I didnt want anybody girls included to see me naked.
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There needs to be spaces for trans people to change in private with dignity. But the girls locker room is not the place for that. Yes, women are allowed to have our own spaces--we fought for them over decades thanks to the feminist movement--the REAL feminist movement of the 60s and 70s, not the new "fun" lib-fem movement, which is seeking to actively dismantle women's sex-based rights and protections. Teenaged girls are well within their right to not want a person with a penis amongst them as they remove their clothing and shower, as are women in rape relief shelters, washrooms, and any other place where female bodies are vulnerable. It's interesting that it is always trans-identifed males who demand to use private spaces meant for women, to push in despite the very reasonable objections of women. I agree that trans women need better options than the ones they are given. The answer is not to bulldoze over women and our needs.
Don’t you think it’s more i’m uncomfortable for a person who would be outwardly perceived as a woman to be naked in a room with a bunch of boys? What about her safety and comfort?
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See the thing with transgender is it is subjective and not objective. So, any dude now that wants his way into the girl's bathroom can just say they are transgender.. I feel bad for true transgender but the risk is too high.
Sergio, this doesn't actually happen. No one is dressing as a woman just to go into a bathroom. Especially not in a high school. Trans women are women, and this girl is no exception.
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I have to humbly admit I cannot decide how I feel about this issues. I support the LGBTQ community but i legitimately can see both sides of the debate and there are some valid points. Part of me envisions locker rooms as a place where you can be comfortable around individuals with the same physical anatomy. Although to be fair the are still often very uncomfortable to teens of any sex/gender. But until we can clearing define and agree on the purpose of male/female separation in bathrooms and locker rooms in the first place i dont see a universal solution. Do we separate them for sexual attraction? For a sense of sameness? To avoid having your body viewed by someone who sees it as a sexual object? I think some of these debates stem from a changing world we are all trying to adapt to and not just a place of hate and discrimination.
I think that we could make it easier if they made stalls like in bathrooms. As a teenager I didnt want anybody girls included to see me naked.
Load More Replies... There needs to be spaces for trans people to change in private with dignity. But the girls locker room is not the place for that. Yes, women are allowed to have our own spaces--we fought for them over decades thanks to the feminist movement--the REAL feminist movement of the 60s and 70s, not the new "fun" lib-fem movement, which is seeking to actively dismantle women's sex-based rights and protections. Teenaged girls are well within their right to not want a person with a penis amongst them as they remove their clothing and shower, as are women in rape relief shelters, washrooms, and any other place where female bodies are vulnerable. It's interesting that it is always trans-identifed males who demand to use private spaces meant for women, to push in despite the very reasonable objections of women. I agree that trans women need better options than the ones they are given. The answer is not to bulldoze over women and our needs.
Don’t you think it’s more i’m uncomfortable for a person who would be outwardly perceived as a woman to be naked in a room with a bunch of boys? What about her safety and comfort?
Load More Replies... See the thing with transgender is it is subjective and not objective. So, any dude now that wants his way into the girl's bathroom can just say they are transgender.. I feel bad for true transgender but the risk is too high.
Sergio, this doesn't actually happen. No one is dressing as a woman just to go into a bathroom. Especially not in a high school. Trans women are women, and this girl is no exception.
Load More Replies...
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