Human rights of transgender individuals

Article URL:http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/us/colorado-transgender-girl-school/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews The article I read discussed the possible discrimination of a Colorado school district against a six year old transgender student. The student was born as a boy but identifies as a girl, and his parents are arguing that she should be allowed to use the girl’s bathroom. This situation is interesting because it is not a simple black and white human rights issue. On one hand, I think that the school should do whatever it can to accommodate the girl. However, the opposition raises the very valid point that this could potentially make other students uncomfortable, especially as the girl ages and goes through puberty. The article raises the question of whether the rights of some should be accommodated at the expense of others. In this situation, I think that both sides need to find a way to compromise and find the best possible outcome for both parties. The school stated that she cannot use the girls bathroom, but suggested that she could use the staff and nurses bathrooms instead of the boys bathroom. Her parents think that this still qualifies as discrimination, and that other students could bully her for being so different from the other girls. I think that in this situation, the school system has done all that it can do to not discriminate against her, while still protecting the other students of the school. Some may disagree, but I think that the girl needs to understand that her situation does make her different from the other girls in the school, and that she will have to make some adjustments because of this. I think that resistance to compromise is an important factor that can polarize groups against each other, and will only keep things the same and prevent any progress towards a situation where everyone’s rights are accommodated.