Middle America's Worldview

I had to check this out myself, hearing it on the radio. Unreal. I agree everyone can do what they want to with their bodies. However, when it interferes in your work enviroment, it goes too far.

School board to address transgender teacher issue

By BERNARD VAUGHANStaff Writer, (609) 978-2012

Published: Monday, February 27, 2006

Updated: Monday, February 27, 2006


Lily McBeth, the former male teacher at Eagleswood Elementary who changed her gender, is one of many teachers around the nation in recent years who have struggled with school boards and parents to keep their jobs.

The Eagleswood school board will discuss McBeth's employment with the district at its meeting 7 p.m. Monday. The school district's issue with McBeth, 70, came to light after Mark Schnepp, of West Creek, took out a full-page advertisement in a local newspaper, urging residents to attend Monday's public meeting. Schnepp, a Methodist with two children in the school, has said McBeth's gender change is against his religious beliefs.

Dana Rivers, an award-winning teacher at Center High School in Antelope, Calif., sparked a national debate when her school board fired her in 1999 after she underwent gender reassignment. Rivers, formerly known as David Warfield, eventually settled with the school district there, and went on to become an activist for transgender people. People magazine named her one of their Most Intriguing People in 1999.

Alyssa Williams, a male-to-female transgender middle school teacher in Minnesota, resigned her position in 1999 after objections from parents. Williams told the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition that she intended to retreat from public life.

Randey Michelle Gordon, formerly Randy Gordon, was believed to be the first teacher to remain in the same school district after changing her sex in 2001. A year later she took a leave of absence from the school, in Westchester County, N.Y., after a doctor diagnosed her with chronic depression.

McBeth's employment should be protected, said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey.

A state appellate court ruled in 2002, in Enriquez v. West Jersey Health, that transgender people are protected by New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination, or LAD. But despite the court's ruling, LAD still does not name transgender people as protected, Jacobs said.

"Because of situations like this, we are trying to get the state Legislature to amend the law to make it consistent with the court ruling and make transgender people protected," Jacobs said.

Garden State Equality, the grassroots organization that pushed for Ocean County to allow former Lt. Laurel Hester to leave her pension benefits to her domestic partner, issued a press release Thursday calling on area progressives to attend Monday night's meeting to support McBeth.

"The good citizens of Ocean County proved their fairness with their outrage over the treatment of Laurel Hester in the months before she died," said Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality. "We believe Ocean County will now rise to the occasion in support of Lily McBeth, whose reputation is unsurpassed. A great teacher is a great teacher, period."

McBeth's gender could not matter less to Shane Donnelly, 18, and Corey Basile, 19, former students of McBeth's at Pinelands Regional Middle School, where she also substituted before seeking a gender reassignment. She was known as William McBeth then.

"He was the best substitute," Donnelly said.

Donnelly, an employee of West Creek Liquors in Eagleswood Township, said McBeth frequently told entertaining surfing stories.

"He said he was the first surfer to put a camera on his surf board," Donnelly said.

Basile, his co-worker, agreed.

"He would tell the most ridiculous stories," Basile said. "None of them were bad or anything. They were usually about surfing."

Both said McBeth was a good teacher.

"He wasn't strict, but he wouldn't let us do whatever we wanted," Donnelly said.

Reading the story, the issue isn't whether he/she/it is a good teacher, rather what is being presented to the kids. You have to admit our children are very susceptible during school. While a teacher can speak the language in teaching, their tone, dresscode, ect are also communicating to the kids. If you have an individual that drastically crosses that boundry, the message/teaching changes focus on the teacher rather than the class.