Coy Mathis Parents of a transgender six year-old are taking legal action her school banned her from using the girl's bathroom. Coy Mathis has identified as a girl since kindergarten and wears girl's clothes. Up until last December she had used the girl's bathroom at her school. Her parents have now been told she can no longer use the girl's bathrooms and must use the nurse's bathroom, the boy's restroom or the staff toilet. The school said its decision took into account "not only Coy, but other students in the building, their parents and the future impact a boy, with male genitals, using a girls' bathroom would have as Coy grew older," according to Mathis' lawyer. The Mathis family has filed a legal complaint which argues that the bathroom ban violates Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act. Coy is being home-schooled until the issue is settled. Her parents are worried other students will bully her when they realise Coy wears dresses but uses the boy's bathroom. "It sets her up for future harassing and bullying, and creates an unsafe environment. The school has a wonderful opportunity to teach students that differences are OK, and we should embrace their differences, instead of teaching them to discriminate against someone who is a little different," her mother Kathryn Mathis has told The Denver Post. "It's important for us to talk about this, because a lot of people have been so afraid to be their true selves for so long."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 2nd March 2013 - 7:11pm