TigerTycoon posted...
Telling the kids they should accept whatever gender people choose to be (with the alternative being told they are wrong and are either punished or shamed for that) is already pushing acceptance of one idea over the other.
Here's the thing, though: This isn't an idea. This isn't simply something people think or believe. It's who they are, and accepting people for who they are is absolutely an idea that should be pushed over any alternative.
TigerTycoon posted...
It's like the religion in school thing, for religions people, "god is obviously real" and there is nothing wrong with teaching kids that, where as for non religious people, they don't want their kids being taught that "god is obviously real" or that they should base any of their beliefs around that. And you know what, atheist and religious people can get along without being asses to each other.
It's quite different from that. "Billy is a Christian" is an objective fact. That is something teachers absolutely can teach their students as being unarguably true, because that's who Billy is, and has chosen to be. Teaching their students to accept and respect that isn't controversial. Teaching their students to be a Christian like Billy would be, but that's not analogous. The subtleties of Billy/Britney's gender identity aren't something kindergarten students need to learn, because Gender Dysphoria and the associated medical and social considerations are more complicated than they can really be taught. ''Billy wants you to call her Britney now," however, can, and that's all that matters here, and teaching kids to respect and accept people the way they are is absolutely and unambiguously a good thing.
For that matter, respecting that Billy wants you to call her Britney is all that matters at any age. You can have all the opinions you want on how gender dysphoria is treated, what policies should be implemented regarding bathrooms, or anything else conceptual. At the end of the day, though, the only power you actually have is the power to make the individual you're talking to feel comfortable, and doing that entails respecting and accepting the identity they present you with, regardless of whether or not you agree with all of the beliefs and feelings that have gone into constructing that identity. That's all that matters, that's something everyone should be doing, and I don't think calling that uncontroversial is particularly unreasonable. I also think that that definitely is something that should be taught to kindergarteners.
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