Five-year-old Kai has lived as a girl for the past two years.
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At first, it was a huge hurdle for Kimberly, a devout Christian. She is about to start kindergarten and her mother is asking the Pearland Independent School District to let Kai use the girl’s restroom.
“I would hold Kai down, and make her get a haircut while she screamed “no mommy, no mommy”….my child would pray and ask to let her go to Heaven and be with Jesus”.
“When your 4-year-old is praying to die, you know you have to do something”, she was reported to say.
Shappley joined forces with Equality Texas, an LGBTQ advocacy group, and began speaking out at public events.
The struggle against the Pearland school district originated in a meeting between Shappley and school officials at the end of the previous school year, when district leaders informed the parent her son would be required to use either the boy’s restroom or the gender-neutral bathrooms. “No matter how I tried to punish, reshape or discipline her, she continued being very feminine”.
“I’m not fighting over bathrooms”.
Shappley says that’s when her crusade to protect her daughter began.
While she describes the district’s response to her daughter’s request as “hurtful”, she admits that she “used to be one of them”.
“It’s the position of the heart of a young man or young woman that’s not going away”, said a Pearland ISD parent.
“Basic human rights. That you can’t take someone that is different from you and separate and segregate them”.
It’s unclear if the issue will appear on the next agenda or if anything will change.
In a statement, the district says children are to use the bathroom matching the gender of their birth certificate.
“Such students have also been allowed to use a private bathroom (such as in the nurse’s station) if they are so inclined”.
According to Reuters, the group of at least 11 states will argue that the policies of allowing transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice are unlawful “radical changes” being forced upon them.
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A similar case took place in Gloucester County where Gavin Grimm, a transgender male student, fought to use the boy’s bathroom at his school. “When the Supreme Court re-defined marriage and invented new constitutional rights, the door was opened for re-defining all social norms, now including executive branch dictates about bathroom and locker room rules in local schools”.
