Transgender Student in Oklahoma Threatened After Facebook Post by Classmate's Parent
A school in Oklahoma closed for two days this week in response to an offensive Facebook post, and related threatening comments, about a transgender student. Jamie Crenshaw, a mother in the Achille area, wrote on Facebook last week that she was upset a transgender girl was using the women's restroom at her children's school.
“The transgender is already using the girls bathroom,” she wrote. GLAAD, a LGBTQ rights advocacy group, explains in their resources that "transgender" should never be used as a noun, as Crenshaw did here. “We have been told how the school has gone above and beyond to make sure he has his own restroom yet he is still using the girls. REALLY.... Looks like it’s gonna be a long year.” She also misgendered Maddie by using the pronoun "he."
12-year-old Maddie, the student, typically uses the faculty restroom to avoid any harassment or unwanted attention from other kids. She started in a new building this year, her mother Brandy Rose said, so she used the women's bathroom because she didn't know where the faculty one was. Up until last year, there was a policy that allowed transgender students to use whichever bathroom fit their gender identity, giving legal protection to students. The Trump administration repealed that policy last February.
The Facebook group was for parents of students in the area, but it was not affiliated with the school. The group has been taken down but screenshots of Crenshaw's posts were widely shared on social media. The New York Times reached out to the Crenshaws for comment but did not get a response.
Maddie told the Times that despite the threats (which included one father saying he hopes his son "whips" Maddie's ass until she doesn't return to school) she doesn't want to leave. “I’m going to keep my head held up high and stay strong and go to school,” she said on Tuesday. “And won’t let those bullies drag me down.”
The threats also included, according to the Times, one adult calling for Maddie to be castrated with a "a good sharp knife," and another saying Maddie should be beat up in the girl's bathroom so that "it doesn't come back." (It isn't clear whether all the adults in the group have children at the school or are from the Achille area.)
“You would expect children to bully other children,” Rose said. “These are adults bullying a child and threatening a child and they’re claiming to be doing it in the name of God. How in the world is that Christlike?” Maddie's mom had to take out a restraining order against Crenshaw's husband because he had also confronted both her and her husband on separate occasions.
The incident is being investigated by the county's sheriff's office. The sheriff in charge, Johnny Christian, said most of the response has been in support of Maddie, but some has been negative, which is why they're taking it very seriously. The school was shut down for two days for security reasons because of potential protests-in the end, people did protest, but in favor of Maddie. More than two dozen people marched in the rain with silver duct tape over their mouths as a sign of silent support.
Maddie's family moved to Oklahoma from Texas a few years ago to get a "fresh start" after students in her last school assaulted her and told her and her brother to commit suicide, her mom explained. She was already living as transgender when she moved to Oklahoma. Despite that, she's still just as religious and positive as ever, her mom said.
“We call her our prayer warrior,” Ms. Rose said. “All these people are saying she needs Jesus. Well, she has Jesus.”
Follow Emma on Instagram.
('You Might Also Like',)
