Massachusetts,
USA — Dozens of parents flooded the Methuen
school system with phone calls yesterday after a local
newspaper reported that a fourth-grade girl had returned
from the February school break requesting to be treated
as a boy. The child's parents told school officials that
he had always considered himself a boy, rejecting
feminine dress and name, and they were agreeing to raise
him as a male.
The story has attracted
the attention of local and national media, including a
half-dozen television stations, according to
Superintendent Phillip Littlefield, who spent most of
yesterday fielding parent and media calls.
Many parents sought
reassurance that ''this wasn't just some frivolous
happening with the youngster," Littlefield said. ''There
is a medical condition that exists here, and this is not
something irresponsible on the part of the parents. These
are wonderful parents who care very, very deeply about
their child."
Most parents who called,
however, simply wanted to know which bathroom the child
uses, according to Littlefield, who said he told them the
youngster uses a separate bathroom, and people say, ''Oh,
wow, that's cool."
Littlefield said the
child has asked to be called a masculine version of his
name, which the superintendent declined to disclose, upon
the family's request. Other than that, nothing has
changed, he said, and most of the 1,100 students at the
Comprehensive Grammar School are taking the situation in
stride. The child has not undergone sexual reassignment
surgery, he said.
''For the kids who aren't
close to him, it was Phyllis and now it's Phillip," said
Littlefield, using other names for examples. ''And it's
OK. They want to know what's for lunch."
The child's parents told
the Eagle Tribune on the condition of anonymity
that their child, who was born with the body of a girl,
has never identified as a girl. After consulting with
medical professionals, they have decided to let him grow
up as a boy and wanted teachers and other students to
treat him as a boy.
''Obviously in the
beginning we dressed him as female," the mother told the
Eagle Tribune. ''When he began identifying at 2
[as a male], he was ripping the dress off his
back."
Dr. Norman Spack,
clinical director of the endocrine division at Children's
Hospital in Boston <http://www.childrenshospital.org/>,
said gender identity is formed at birth and is not a
product of the environment. Much more research still
needs to be done around how male and female brains differ
and how transgenderism occurs, he said. Of the more than
100 transgendered people he has treated, many secretly
cross-dressed as children and suppressed their gender
identity because their parents were punitive.
''In many cases they went
on to live a life that was a sham, getting married and
having children," said Spack, one of the few pediatric
endocrinologists in the country who specializes in gender
identity and intersex issues. ''They go through a
difficult time of depression coming to grips with the
fact that their body doesn't match their
brain."
Most of Spack's
transgender patients are adults, he said, but he is
involved in the care of about five prepubescent children
dealing with gender identity issues.
''It's the relatively
rare child who will come forward and have the courage to
say, 'This is what I am, even though it was not what I
was born to look like,' " Spack said. ''I admire the
school for its acceptance. When schools set an example
like this, it's a lesson for all."
In 1999, Brockton school
officials barred a 15-year-old student who is
biologically male, but identifies as female, from
attending school dressed in girl's clothing. A school
psychologist diagnosed the student with transgendered
disorder when the teenager was 13, in seventh grade, and
the student started wearing makeup, skirts, wigs, and
padded bras to school. The state Appeals Court upheld a
Superior Court ruling in 2000 that a transgender male
student can wear female clothing to class.
The Methuen school has
not discussed gender identity with students because ''it
really is beyond the comprehension of a 9-year-old,"
Littlefield said. Instead, a teacher told the two-dozen
students in the child's fourth-grade class to call him by
a different name. The child's friends call him by his
initials anyway, he said.
Littlefield said the
school has made appropriate accommodations for the child
at the parents' request, but he said he has promised the
parents confidentiality and could not be more specific.
If students bring home questions that parents cannot
answer, he said, they should call the school to speak to
a staff member familiar with gender identity
issues.
''I think sometimes when
we don't understand something completely, we sort of
react with fear," Littlefield said. ''And this is a nice
little kid. This is the same youngster that's been in the
fourth grade all year."
