-I- Transgendered boy in the news
Elusis
story is generally pretty well done:
-----
Feminine boy shakes up small school in Georgia
October 29, 1998 Web posted at: 7:43 p.m. EST (0043 GMT)
CARROLLTON, Georgia (AP) -- Patrick Nelson had heard there was a
cross-dressing boy enrolled at his high school. But darned if he could
figure out just who it was.
"I looked for him the first couple weeks. The honest truth -- I didn't
even know," Patrick said.
One day, he was talking about the mystery to a friend, who smiled and
pointed to the pretty blonde at the desk next to his.
"I said, 'No way, that's too weird!'" Patrick recalled. "Then I thought
about it, and I said, 'So what's so weird about that?'"
But while Patrick and his friends were willing to accept Matthew "Alex"
McLendon's feminine appearance and mannerisms, others in this rural,
conservative western Georgia community of about 20,000 weren't.
And so 15-year-old Alex withdrew from school under pressure, leaving
supporters of the popular, easygoing student wondering what threat they
supposedly had been protected from.
"Alex wasn't causing any problems. She got along well with everybody,"
said classmate and friend Meayghan Denkers. "She wasn't trying to change
anybody to be like her or anything."
After a heated October 6 meeting of the board of the small, private
Georgian Country Day School, Alex was "invited to withdraw" or face
expulsion.
Alex, who had enrolled in September after attending public school, was
cited for wearing a tongue ring, but had been called before school
authorities earlier about his female dress, makeup and hairstyle.
Most of Alex's classmates -- including some of the boys -- wore bows in
their hair in protest until ordered to remove them by the principal.
Some indignantly quoted their school handbook, which urges acceptance of
"diversity in opinion, culture, ideas, behavioral characteristics,
attributes or challenges."
"Alex represents something that's way beyond the experience and the
comfort zone of the very conservative people we live with," said Lori
Lipoma, Meayghan's mother and a drama teacher at the school. "I really
think we all lost something very precious that night."
School officials would not discuss the case.
"We make no comments on students," said Rex Camp, chairman of the board
of the school, where tuition is more than $5,000 a year for the 50 or so
high-school students. Kindergarten and elementary students are in a
separate building, but one parent of a 6-year-old expressed concern at
the board meeting about Alex's effect on younger children.
"I believe in sexual standards in society, and I want my child in a
school that holds the same sexual ethics that I do," said Craig Neal.
Alex, who speaks in a soft, feminine voice, began cross-dressing two
years ago and considers himself "95 percent girl."
Larry Harmon, a Dade County, Florida, psychologist who counsels patients
on sexual identity, said such feelings appear to fit a rare condition
called gender-identity disorder. He said it doesn't necessarily imply
homosexuality, and it's difficult to know how many youngsters have it
and why.
"I'm not homosexual," Alex said. "I just look like a girl and I dress
like a girl. It wasn't anything flamboyant, not sequins or anything. But
because I'm a guy. ..."
He enrolled in night school but quit in less than a week because he
didn't feel the courses offered would help his education goals. He hopes
to pursue a career in fashion merchandising and modeling.
Alex said Thursday he's looking into the possibility of home-schooling.
"I do wish I was still at the Georgian School," he said.
At the Georgian Country Day School -- where Alex said he enrolled to get
a better education -- he struck up a friendship with Meayghan and was
soon invited to spend nights over at her house. The first couple of
times, Meayghan's mother popped in on them unannounced, just in case.
"They'd be sitting there doing hair, or painting nails, and I said to
myself, 'This is a girl,'" Lipoma said.
A few weeks into the school year, Alex and his father were summoned to a
meeting with school officials. They said that parents had complained,
and that he had to dress like a boy, Alex recalled. He refused and was
sent home. A special board meeting followed.
Under the law, a public school would have had to show that Alex was
disrupting education or undermining safety. A private school has more
leeway.
Alex's mother died when he was young. He said that his cross-dressing
initially caused a rift with his father, but that the older man stood
with him in the dispute with the board. Mack McLendon declined an
interview.
"School is supposed to be preparing you for life," Alex said. "Parents
are trying to protect their kids by covering their eyes. It's going to
be a real shock for some of these parents when their kids get out into
the real world."
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Ken Tough
>They've got "cross-dressing" mixed up with "transgendered," but this
>story is generally pretty well done:
>Feminine boy shakes up small school in Georgia
Nicely written story. Has anyone seen the movie "Ma Vie en Rose"?
Perhaps they should show it to the PTA.
--
Ken Tough
Cornwall, U.K. Edge of the planet, then get out and walk.
Danielle Ringrose
>They've got "cross-dressing" mixed up with "transgendered," but this
>story is generally pretty well done:
This article nearly made me cry in frustration. Why do people think their kids
will be affected?
>Most of Alex's classmates -- including some of the boys -- wore bows in
>their hair in protest until ordered to remove them by the principal.
>Some indignantly quoted their school handbook, which urges acceptance of
>"diversity in opinion, culture, ideas, behavioral characteristics,
>attributes or challenges."
Damn hypocritical school. The kids themselves seem educated and tolerant
enough to understand.
>"School is supposed to be preparing you for life," Alex said. "Parents
>are trying to protect their kids by covering their eyes. It's going to
>be a real shock for some of these parents when their kids get out into
>the real world."
This kid is amazing. I wish him (her?) all the best. That quote is going in my
quotes file.
Ponderingly,
Dani.
"They should've sent a poet."
Ellie Arroway, "Contact"
salh...@gmail.com
IM LOKN4REAL TRUE FRNDSHP&LOVE?
ANY1THERE?PLS ANSER/RPLY FULY SOON.THANX.I W84U?
On Friday, October 30, 1998 11:00:00 AM UTC+3, Elusis wrote:
> They've got "cross-dressing" mixed up with "transgendered," but this
> story is generally pretty well done:
> Feminine boy shakes up small school in Georgia
>
> their hair in protest until ordered to remove them by the principal.
> Some indignantly quoted their school handbook, which urges acceptance of
> "diversity in opinion, culture, ideas, behavioral characteristics,
> attributes or challenges."
>
> are trying to protect their kids by covering their eyes. It's going to
> be a real shock for some of these parents when their kids get out into
> the real world."
>