Mr. Daniels becomes Ms. Daniels
An elementary school principal in Swampscott, Mass., last week told students and parents he is transgender. Stanley Elementary School Principal Tom Daniels, 52, said he will begin using the name “Shannon” and wear women’s clothing.
“I can now say it: I am transgender,” Daniels, a married father with three children, wrote in a letter to students, parents, teachers, and administrators last Tuesday. “For me, that means I identify as both a male and female, and I plan to move toward presenting myself and identifying as female.”
The letter proposed language for parents to use when trying to explain the transition to their elementary students, including, “There are many different ways boys and girls express themselves,” and, “Principal Daniels may look and sound different, but inside Principal Daniels is the same caring person.”
But no amount of talking points can shield children from the natural confusion and distress they will feel when their male principal starts dressing as a female, according to Family Research Council senior fellow Peter Sprigg.
“Children do not have the cognitive capacity to understand something which could upend their own developing sense of a secure, natural identity as male or female,” Sprigg told LifeSite News, adding that Daniels’ case is even more extreme because he is asking elementary school–age children to embrace his identity as both a man and a woman. “Children should not be subjected to such social engineering.”
One South Dakota state legislator this week tried to sponsor a bill that would have prohibited public schools from teaching students from kindergarten to seventh grade about gender identity or gender expression, but it appears a forceful LGBT lobby bested the effort. A committee hearing was scheduled for Thursday, and LGBT advocates were on hand to testify, but at the last minute, state Sen. Phil Jensen dropped the bill. He refused to explain why. —K.C.
Comments
OldMike
Posted: Sat, 02/17/2018 03:57 amRegarding the case of the teenage girl removed from her parents' custody, because she thinks she wants to be a boy, and her parents want counseling for her, rather than sex change treatment? It's hard to imagine anything being more off the rails than the decision of the judge, the hospital, county prosecutor, and family services agency, to support this child's fantasy.
Janet S
Posted: Mon, 02/19/2018 08:33 amWhy do you think it is hard to imagine with all that is taking place in our country with the LGBT movement? The sad part is that we are doing a great cultural experiment with our children.
phillipW
Posted: Tue, 02/20/2018 02:26 pmWhat person, in their right mind, would want to have children, after reading something like this? We've removed the ability of parents to discipline their children, and to decide what is in their best interests, prior to age 18. Children can read this story, and sue their parents if they don't like the decisions their parents are making for them. And we wonder why we have an entire generation of spoiled brats who need safe spaces, and can't handle negativity, pressure, or life in general. Let's just lock up our wittle snowflakes in a pillow room and don't let them see or do anything, for fear it might harm their precious wittle selves.
This judge should be removed from the bench. Horrible precedent and decision to make.
OldMike
Posted: Fri, 02/23/2018 09:01 pmI would like to say, in my opinion we don’t have “an entire generation of spoiled brats who need safe spaces, etc.”
To be sure, there are too many who aren’t becoming assured and responsible young adults. But there are still a lot of families, although probably not a majority, who are raising their kids sensibly and teaching them to ignore the foulness our “culture-leaders” are spewing through entertainment, the schools, and leftist politics. There’s an increase in young people standing for the value of the unborn, for instance.
All is not lost yet, though it’s a very chancy thing.
RB
Posted: Thu, 03/01/2018 11:13 amI would tell my elementary school child about Mr. Daniels ‘transition’;
“Mr. Daniels has been deceived by his desires into believing something about himself that is not true. That is false and unnatural. It is in fact sinful. This does not mean you should treat him differently or avoid him. You should pray for him and love him as Jesus loves you, but you do not have to accept his dressing in women’s clothes, or changing his voice, or acting strange or out of the ordinary as correct or as the truth. Be aware of anyone who tells you something different and tell us.
If someone, an adult, a teacher, a friend or another kid, tells you that you must accept him in his new way as ok, or asks you to believe he ‘is just expressing himself differently’ or is ‘the same caring person inside’, immediately tell your mother or I as soon as you can.
If you are worried or have any questions about this you can always talk to us.