ADAMS: How To Deal With Transgender Students

I get a lot of email from unhinged leftists. And I certainly expected to hear from some of them in response to my latest Daily Wire column, “My Preferred Pronouns.” Being an unselfish person, I like to share my hate mail with readers — and my “hate male” when it is from feminists. Here is what one “woke” Daily Wire reader had to say:

“You are a real piece of (expletive deleted). Today, you say the transgendered suffer from a mental disorder. Next, you will say that paraplegics suffer from a mental illness. How do you teach transgendered students given your atavistic views on human sexuality?”

(Author note: The term “atavistic” refers to views everyone shared prior to around the mid-point of the Obama presidency).

Of course, someone has to suffer from severe intellectual hernia in order to fail to grasp the distinction between a) those that lose use of their limbs through some accident and b) those that cut off appendages voluntarily in order to help their body catch up with their perceived sexual identity. But embedded within the otherwise ludicrous email is a serious question, which I will paraphrase as follows: What guidelines do you follow when interacting with transgendered students in the classroom?

I am actually delighted that someone finally asked about my views on how to teach transgendered students. I only adhere to four basic rules when dealing with students who suffer from Gender Identity Disorder, so I will spell them out for my leftist critics:

Always Use The Student’s Preferred Name

You might call the name of Charlene on the first day of class and be corrected by a voice asking to be called Charlie. Or Patricia might ask to be called Pat. Or the correction could be something less smooth — such as Bruce demanding to be called Caitlyn. Regardless, always show respect for the person by using the name they prefer because it is just that — a preference. There is nothing inherently male or female about a first name. This is a non-issue. Don’t make it one.

Avoid Using Pronouns

Pronouns are different. When Bruce goes from simply asking to be called Caitlyn to demanding to be called “she” you have a potential problem. Calling Bruce “Caitlyn” is simply honoring a preference. In contrast, calling Bruce “she” is telling a lie. In a nutshell, Bruce is now asking you to accommodate his mental disorder by lying and saying he is something he is not. Just as there is good reason to refrain from lying and saying “she” there is also good reason to refrain from saying “he.” The reason is that it is completely avoidable.

When my first transgendered student asked to be called by a male name on the first day of class I had no idea that she would also become my best and most outspoken student in the class. There were numerous times throughout the semester when her comments were so enlightening that I almost responded by saying something like, “Did everyone hear what she just said?” In such cases, when I came to the part of the sentence with the personal pronoun I simply substituted the student’s first name, which is more personal anyway. Professors who make an issue of this by sending around sheets of paper the first day of class asking for each student’s preferred pronouns are just being pretentious. This is another non-issue. Learn your student’s first names and use them whenever you call on them in class. Issue resolved.

Don’t Take The Bathroom Bait

Some people say that North Carolina’s HB2 was an “unnecessary law.” I agree. Had it not been for the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Charlotte passing a city ordinance (requiring all private businesses to allow access to any bathroom on the basis of the patron’s perceived gender), the state legislature would have had no need to address the issue. Generally speaking, transsexuals have quietly used the bathroom of their choice for years with no problem — that is, until LGBT activists politicized the issue.

When my first “transitioning” student decided she wanted to walk into the men’s restroom just as I was walking out I simply ignored her. It was awkward to be certain. But it wasn’t worth calling the bathroom police. If you are ever assaulted in a bathroom by a transsexual then do what you would do if a normal person outside a bathroom assaulted you: Call the police and/or defend yourself. If not, just go about your business. This is another non-issue. Don’t make it one.

Provide An Alternate Basis For Student Identity

I cringe every time I hear the phrase “LGBT people” because it implies that those who are outside of the heterosexual norm are somehow defined by their sexuality. As educators, we should have no part of the undignified business of encouraging people to build their identity around their sexuality. We cannot love people by actually encouraging the spiritual evils that victimize them — even when the culture praises us for doing so.

Thus, whenever I see my former student (who is obviously going through radical hormonal therapy to appear male) I do not ask her how her gender identity transition is going. I ask her how her studies are going. I thank her for being such an attentive student. I tell her how much I enjoyed having her in my class. This lets her know that she stands out because of her mind not because of her membership in a newly contrived class of victims.

This is really all you need to know about how to deal with the transgender issue. Best of all, my advice is free of charge. Because some problems are so simple they don’t require a diversity expert who demands a six-digit salary from our overburdened taxpayers.

Now, let’s move on to more serious issues. Like ending classroom oppression against left-handers who have to sharpen their pencils with devices built by the dominant right-handed majority.