Cool the transgender fight

On the spectrum of human sexuality, transgender kids are probably the smallest, most vulnerable minority.

It's sad to see that they have become ground zero in the nation's ongoing culture war.

Gov. Pete Ricketts wasted little time jumping into the lead of efforts in Nebraska to shut down the effort to accommodate transgender youth in the nation's public schools.

Schools should "reject this bullying by the Obama administration," Ricketts said, referring to a directive sent to school districts across the country.

The letter, signed by a couple of underlings in the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, says, "Schools have a responsibility to provide a safe and nondiscriminatory environment for all students, including transgender students."

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson fired back a letter to federal officials saying that his office would do "everything in its power" to fight the guidelines.

That's a harsh response for a segment of the population that is so stressed that more than 40 percent at some point in their lives will attempt suicide, according to a study by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Not surprisingly the statistics improve for transgender individuals who have supportive families and a nondiscriminatory environment.

Social conservatives make the mistake of thinking that transgender issues are an outgrowth of a permissive society.

Instead of blaming liberals, they ought to blame Mother Nature, or any higher power, for confusing the issue. It's a verifiable fact that a small percentage of babies are born with genitalia that are not clearly male or female - about 1 in every 1,500 to 2,000 births, according to the Intersex Society of North America. And that's only one facet of transgender issues.

The righteous who thunder that boys should be boys and girls should be girls are ignoring the reality that confronts parents whose children are transgender.

To be sure, one can have some empathy with a school board member whose prior experience with transgender issue may be limited to hearing about Olympic hero Bruce Jenner transitioning to become Caitlyn. Most school board members signed up for an unpaid job expecting to deal with tax rates and budgets; now they're confronted with a "Dear Colleague" letter about sex-segregated restrooms and locker rooms with the threat that federal funds are at stake.

However, the opposition from Ricketts and Peterson is not universal in Nebraska. The Lincoln Public School System says the guidelines will pose no problem. It's not an impossible task for schools to offer a supportive and nurturing environment for transgender students. We urge them to get to work on it.

The Gayly - 5/23/2016 @ 11:31 a.m. CDT