This video tells the story of Hunter Schaefer. Hunter and family members spoke at Trinity School in New York City, where this was recently filmed. Her father is a Presbyterian minister. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a teenager. She is transgender. Her parents and sister talk in the video about how they came to understand and appreciate Hunter.
Because of Hunter and other students like her, the North Carolina legislature convened a special session. They passed a bill that was supposedly against discrimination, but whose real purpose was to ensure that the people of the state are allowed to discriminate against Hunter and others like her. Although she is a girl, she may be compelled to use the boys’ bathroom. She may be discriminated against or denied access to public accommodations.
Will every public restroom have a monitor to check genitals? That’s one way to increase employment in the state.
The legislature is afraid of her and the very small number of people in the state like her. That’s why it passed the most restrictive state legislation in the nation, to ensure that she doesn’t have equal rights.
Watch the video.
What do you think?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think NC stands for Non Compos mentis.
Except for Asheville. Asheville is cool.
Shame on the Congress and Governor of NC. I can’t imagine the stress this law will put on transgender people. They are human and deserve being treated with respect.
How long will it take for humans to care about others instead of judging harshly those who are different in any way? This includes different cultures and different religions. We are a species that spends way too much energy on being fearful and hateful.
You really have to wonder about the NC legislature. We have to worry about what restroom people are using? REALLY! With all the other problems we have this required a special session? As long as people are using restrooms for their intended purpose and nothing else WHO REALLY CARES!
“Will every public restroom have a monitor to check genitals?”
Don’t give Bill Gates any ideas
What is really needed is an EEG to monitor brain activity in the North Carolina State House — to see if there is any there, or if brain death has occurred.
Exceptional video of a loving family and a truly ‘cool kid’, Hunter.
Children teach us a lot if we let them.
They understand that we are not all the same, and that is OK!
Exactly the way it’s ‘posed to be.
There is room for everybody in this world.
Bill Gates has been working on perfecting toilets for a while, mainly in 3rd world countries. Adding cameras and alarms to each rim will be a breeze for him. I am sure he already has a prototype ready.
When we study atrocities in history, we often ask “how could that have happened, and how can millions of people agree?” – not that difficult to understand as we watch what has been going in in the US for the last decades.
Who would have ever predicted the harm being done to our children, teachers, and public education?
Stay tuned…buckle your seatbelt as this election unfolds.
Too bad, Canada is so bloody cold!
“Too bad, Canada is so bloody cold!”
I have a friend who is a Canadian citizen and she says her family is thinking of moving to New Zealand of Australia if Trump or Cruz are elected president of the U.S. They think it will be safer to be further from the epicenter of America’s far right extremist hate that might spill into Canada and destroy that country too.
The Inquisition lasted several hundred years from 1231 to the last execution in 1826. America’s far-right extremist inquisition, also based on lots of hate and punishment, has only been at it for a few decades. It could get a lot worse before it ends.
H.A.
Don’t worry. With continued global warming assured with deniers like Trump, Cruz and so many other Republicans in power, it’s just a matter of time before Canada has the climate of the tropics.
And “fortunately” you may not have all that long to wait.
In fact, the arctic is currently the fastest warming region on earth.
And when Gates gets his toilet perfected, maybe he can test it out with all of his billions of dollars, which would be a far better use than what he is doing with them now.
I have a feeling that if we let Gates get his way, we will all soon be tattooed with a gender/racial identity barcode at birth — it’s SO much easier t to use with his technology.
A powerful video that makes me despise the extreme right, that is an epidemic of hate with their own media feeding them as much hate as they are capable of gorging on, even more.
What a terrific talk. Thank you, Diane.
Hunter and her family are educators. Thank you for posting this. This video led me to this survey which may be of interest.
The 2011 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools. The survey comes from GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network), the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. This report is not as up to date as one might wish, but it is professional survey research with some telling comments from students, in addition to charts and graphs and stats. The first survey, conducted in 1999 has been followed by biennial surveys since then. The survey methodology is explained, along with reliabilities and claims about validity. The sample for this survey included 8,584 students between the ages of 13 and 20, from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and from 3,224 unique school districts. About two thirds of the sample (67.9%) was White, about half (49.6%) was female, and over half identified as gay or lesbian (61.3%). Students were in grades 6 to 12. The largest numbers were in grades 10 and 11, and the average age of participants was 16, Hunter’s age. The method of recruiting survey participants is also explained.
Dr. Ravitch, it’s nice that this girl has loving parents and that the expectation is that she should expect a community that extends the same.
But chill with the divine prophecies about NC’s future. And the crass jokes about he Italy checking as a career. By what authority do you claim this crystal ball? Seriously. I can’t believe you are coming here in two months. Quit with the bashing of our state in its entirety. It’s unbecoming to you and everyone and it helpful.
Cx: he Italy= genital
Cx: it is NOT helpful
Involved Mom, I love North Carolina, but please understand that your legislature and governor have turned your beautiful state into a national laughing stock. That’s not my fault.
SomeDamPoet~ you are correct about the possibility that Canada & Finland will thaw & I may be able to live there 12 mos a year.
Gates Crapper redesign ideas – his model could be named the PeepingGates model.
Sick!
Frightening to know that there are people who actually must know about our personal ‘plumbing’ before we enter public toilets. Instead of hiring inspectors, they may install the airport voyeur-xray-style machines outlining our naked bodies instantly.
Sick!
What a waste of energy & preoccupation to harm others.
To H.A. Hurley:
Canada is a beautiful country and has four distinctive weathers to enjoy and appreciate all related weathered sports.
I hope that Canada will preserve a multicultural ideology. However, if one race dominates governmental power, then Canada will be bigotry like USA presidential candidates today.
All country that are near to equator have warm and hot weather PLUS many fighting wars. Mentalities and attitudes of people are related to weather and regions where they live. Thanks God that conscientious educators are God-given assets to human beings.
So, please do not go away from undesirable situations, please stand tall and educate students how to stand up for their human rights, being open minded, being flexible and adaptable with resilience and a strong belief in humanity and in conscientiousness. Back2basic.