{"id":1598299,"date":"2022-08-10T07:31:16","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T11:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1598299"},"modified":"2022-08-10T07:33:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T11:33:37","slug":"war-on-parents-male-teacher-asked-this-moms-11-year-old-transgender-daughter-to-sleep-in-boys-cabin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/war-on-parents-male-teacher-asked-this-moms-11-year-old-transgender-daughter-to-sleep-in-boys-cabin\/","title":{"rendered":"War On Parents: Male Teacher Asked This Mom\u2019s 11-Year-Old \u2018Transgender\u2019 Daughter To Sleep In Boys\u2019 Cabin"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwar-on-parents-male-teacher-asked-this-moms-11-year-old-transgender-daughter-to-sleep-in-boys-cabin%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1598299&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>At the beginning of the school year in 2019, Jennifer received an email from her daughter\u2019s 5th-grade teacher. The teacher, a male, was using a different name for her then-10-year-old daughter. Jennifer thought it was a mistake. The teacher must have accidentally emailed the wrong parent.<\/p>\n<p>But then, Jennifer went to her daughter\u2019s room and found a yellow Post-It note stuck to her dresser with that same name, along with the pronouns \u201cthey\/them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you have a new nickname?\u201d Jennifer asked.<\/p>\n<p>Her daughter responded yes.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer didn\u2019t think much of it beyond harmless identity exploration. But a couple of months later, Jennifer received a more concerning call from a school counselor informing her that her daughter had used the words \u201csuicide\u201d and \u201ccutting\u201d with a friend.<\/p>\n<p>The counselor recommended her daughter start seeing a therapist who was contracted with the school. That therapist was free to use, accessible during school hours, and qualified to handle her daughter\u2019s mental health problems, Jennifer was told. Worried about her daughter, Jennifer said yes. But because her daughter was only 10 at the time, Jennifer would have to go into the school and give written permission.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer lives in a suburb of Washington state, where children <a href=\"https:\/\/wng.org\/roundups\/washington-erasing-parents-from-the-equation-1617220589\">as young as 13 years old<\/a> can access their own medical and mental health services without parental knowledge or consent. Parents in these cases are billed by insurance companies with no explanation of benefits, meaning they\u2019re stuck with the tab but have no ability to know what services or treatments their child received.<\/p>\n<p>When consenting for her daughter to see the school therapist, Jennifer made sure to tell the therapist that her daughter had been talking about her sexuality and gender identity. She shared that while she and her husband believed their daughter was too young to be exploring these ideas, they\u2019d \u201clove her no matter where she ends up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The therapist made no mention of her own views on the subject or her affirmation-based treatment model where, if a child declares he or she is transgender or non-binary, the therapist would affirm the child\u2019s stated identity.<\/p>\n<p>So for two and a half months, Jennifer\u2019s daughter was meeting with a school therapist once a week who was treating her as a boy, using male pronouns and a made-up name. When Jennifer would ask how the sessions were going, the therapist acted as though nothing big had come up.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"8gCWhXjRaIVwAhYnyTbU2d9JtFBrksvGmwOAMKcXqqmPpjfEiz053PyiguN6t6lvfsNDZkeV2BoxCOeoT\"><\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Coming Out\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Then in February 2020, right before COVID-19 hit, Jennifer received a phone call from the school therapist with a two-fold purpose: to request that she and her husband come to the school in three days for a meeting where the therapist would assist their daughter in officially coming out to them as a boy, and to obtain parental permission to allow her daughter to stay overnight in the boy\u2019s cabin for an upcoming school trip.<\/p>\n<p>Sensing the meeting wouldn\u2019t go well \u2014 and worse, would set them up in an adversarial position with the daughter they loved \u2014 Jennifer and her husband called it off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were never going to let her do that, I don\u2019t care who she thinks she is,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cThere are so many reasons not to put a girl in a cabin with a bunch of boys and a male adult teacher. So many safeguarding fails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At that point, Jennifer and her husband decided to take more drastic measures. They were skeptical that their 11-year-old daughter was transgender, and believed the school and the therapist were actually leading her to identify as a boy. So they revoked their consent for their daughter to see the school therapist, took away her access to online devices, and soon, unenrolled her from public school altogether.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI already knew I couldn\u2019t trust the school with my daughter when she was in fifth grade,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cAnd going onto the middle school, she would be turning 13. And then I wouldn\u2019t even know. They wouldn\u2019t have to tell me what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Identifying as a Boy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Jennifer\u2019s daughter first identified as transgender when she was 10 years old and enrolled in an online drawing program. Prior to that, Jennifer and her husband had restricted their daughter\u2019s access to online devices. But since their daughter was an artist, they agreed to what they thought was a harmless online art program.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, a year and a half later, Jennifer learned it was through that group of online art friends that her daughter was introduced to ideas of sexuality and gender.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe talked about being asexual at 10 years old,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cWhich of course she\u2019s asexual at 10 years old. But that\u2019s an identity.\u201d She then talked about being demi sexual, gay, non-binary, and finally landed on transgender.<\/p>\n<p>The transgender identity was heightened when her daughter began conversing with a group of girls at school who, at ages 10 and 11 years old, also identified as some form of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The friends appeared to compete over who could have the edgiest, most unique identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was trying to fit in. She was trying to have friends,\u201d Jennifer said.<\/p>\n<p>Once her daughter was out of school and no longer communicating online with peers who valued queer identities, her transgender identity lost its importance. Slowly, Jennifer said, her daughter started to let it go.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Wasn\u2019t Making Her Happy\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cHer mood changed drastically,\u201d Jennifer said. Identifying as transgender \u201cwasn\u2019t making her happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since giving up on being transgender, Jennifer has talked with her daughter about everything that happened over the year and a half she spent exploring identifying as a boy. After repeated unanswered requests, Jennifer also obtained notes from the school therapist, which confirmed her suspicion that the therapist was encouraging her daughter\u2019s transition behind her back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was so upset because [the school therapist] was using male pronouns for my daughter from the first moment, from the first notes,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cHe, him. And it seemed like all that she was doing with my daughter was helping her advocate for herself whenever somebody \u2018misgendered\u2019 her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This included Jennifer\u2019s older two sons, who didn\u2019t even know their sister was identifying as a boy. It also included a boy at the school who Jennifer said got in trouble for \u201cmisgendering\u201d her daughter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the school, they\u2019re not just affirming and encouraging my daughter in this delusion,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cIt\u2019s deluding other kids too. They are teaching kids to deny their own sense perceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More recently, Jennifer felt enough time had passed that she could ask about the idea of staying in the boy\u2019s overnight cabin for three nights without feeling embarrassed or self-conscious.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer\u2019s daughter told her, \u201cThat wasn\u2019t my idea. That was the school\u2019s idea. My teacher asked me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKids want to please adults,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cMy daughter felt she had to answer yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After that incident, Jennifer said her daughter, who is now 13, decided she didn\u2019t want to go on the 5th-grade overnight trip. Though it wasn\u2019t then, it\u2019s now clear to her why.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Going to War Together\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Jennifer feels betrayed by educators, therapists, doctors, and liberal politicians whom she spent a lifetime supporting. That list includes President Joe Biden, who<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8wCjz2SIYVo\"> told parents in March<\/a> that affirming their child\u2019s transgender identity is \u201cone of the most powerful things you can do to keep them safe and healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of people think that using the pronouns and affirming a child who says they\u2019re the opposite sex, that that is about kindness,\u201d she said, explaining:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Everybody\u2019s very confused about this. Because the T has purposefully been attached to LGB, which is a completely separate issue. We know the LGB community was mistreated, and so people don\u2019t want to do that again with trans-identified people, so everybody\u2019s being super careful, and they want to be kind. But it\u2019s a different situation. With LGB people, they\u2019re saying, \u2018Just let us be who we are.\u2019 And there\u2019s no medical consequences.<\/p>\n<p>But with transgender-identified people or people who identify as the opposite sex, it\u2019s very much a medical situation and it\u2019s about the harm medicalization causes. Children are cutting off their healthy breasts and testicles and doing things to their bodies that they can\u2019t undo. So that is completely different. Of course parents are concerned when their children identify this way because it carries a heavy medical burden which they will have for the rest of their life. They become sewn to the medical industrial complex. They will have to take drugs. They will probably have to have other surgeries. We don\u2019t even know all the health consequences at this point. It\u2019s an experiment happening right now on children.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the past, most parents followed the watchful waiting approach. Children were not medically or socially transitioned, and the vast majority became comfortable with their sex when they went through puberty. Today, parents are being told that affirmation is the only acceptable response to a transgender declaration. Jennifer\u2019s story is just one example of how there is another possible outcome if a child is not affirmed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey might desist,\u201d she said. \u201cIsn\u2019t that preferable to a lifetime of harmful medical procedures?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>For more from IWF\u2019s\u00a0Identity Crisis series,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org\/identity-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: Last names have not been used to protect a minor\u2019s privacy.  <\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Kelsey Bolar is a contributor to The Federalist and a senior policy analyst at Independent Women&#8217;s Forum. She is also the Thursday editor of BRIGHT, a weekly newsletter for women, and the 2017 Tony Blankley Chair at The Steamboat Institute. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, daughter, and Australian Shepherd, Utah.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the beginning of the school year in 2019, Jennifer received an email from her daughter\u2019s 5th-grade teacher. The teacher, a male, was using a different name for her then-10-year-old<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1233,"featured_media":1897915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1598299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/10\/war-on-parents-male-teacher-asked-this-moms-11-year-old-transgender-daughter-to-sleep-in-boys-cabin\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=war-on-parents-male-teacher-asked-this-moms-11-year-old-transgender-daughter-to-sleep-in-boys-cabin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1598299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1598299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1598299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1598299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}