Transgender student suit goes to Maine high court

[davidn3600]

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Maine's highest court heard arguments Wednesday over whether transgender students can use the bathroom of their choice, and the girl at the heart of the case said she hoped justices would recognize the right of children to attend school without being "bullied" by peers or administrators.

Nicole Maines, now 15, watched lawyers argue over whether her rights were violated when the Orono school district required her to use a staff bathroom after there was a complaint about her using the girls' bathroom.

Maines said after the hearing in Bangor that she hopes the Supreme Judicial Court will ensure no one else experiences what she went though.

"I hope they understood how important it is for students to be able to go to school and get an education and have fun and make friends, and not have to worry about being bullied by students or the administration, and to be accepted for who they are," said Maines, who now attends a high school in southern Maine.

Her family and the Maine Human Rights Commission sued in 2009 over the school's actions, but a state judge ruled that the school district acted within its discretion. Maines is a biological male who from an early age identified as a girl.

http://news.yahoo.com/transgender-student-suit-goes-maine-high-court-153230913.html

[Skittles]

1. I bet the "complaint" was BS

at work we had a guy who was transitioning......he used the ladies room and everyone was OK with it but this one woman I worked with.......every morning like clockwork she called HR to complain about it. One morning she said, "Time to call HR"; she picked up the phone and I walked over and grabbed the receiver and slammed it down. I told her if she persisted I would call HR and register a complaint against her for bigotry, harassment and LYING (the complaints about the so-called behavior in the restroom were utter bullshit). I later found out HR had already pegged her as a pain in the ass bigot.

[Tien1985]

2. The compliant was BS

(I live about two towns away). The girl wasn't having problems with the school until a grandfather of another student heard and threw a fit--he insisted that it should mean his grandson should be allowed to use the girl's bathroom and kept encouraging the boy to harass her. Eventually, it led to a lot of bullying and such.

Also, good on you for standing up against the bigot!