Transgender Seventh Grader Threatened Over Using the Bathroom

Maddie Rose, a transgender seventh-grader, has been threatened online by parents of other students at her school after using the girl's bathroom. (Normally, she would use the staff bathroom. This is a common accommodation for transgender students.) She enrolled in the school as Maddie and has had no problems until a parent posted to a private Facebook group about it and others chimed in comments such as "If he wants to be a female, make him a female. A good, sharp knife should do the trick" and others that said she should be "beat up in the girl's bathroom so it doesn't come back". Some users appeared to have left these comments "in the name of God".

Ironically, Maddie herself is very much a Christian and is her family's "prayer warrior". Maddie's faith has kept her afloat amidst everything that had happened to her from moving from Texas to Oklahoma to receiving attacks on Facebook from people who probably weren't even from Achille, Oklahoma. Because she leans forward while using the bathroom (likely to avoid dysphoria surrounding the genitals), she was accused of peeping. However, the commenters on the Facebook page (which has been taken down) did not say much about the incident and instead called Maddie an "it" that should be away from polite society.

Maddie had been living as a female without incident for years up until these bullies ganged up on her to the point where she feared for her life. Her mother had to get a restraining order against the primary bullies who are known as the Crenshaws. No matter how you feel about children transitioning (medically or otherwise) or what falls under one's brand of "acceptable human", most people would believe that harassing a child (who is barely old enough to use social media) online is wrong.

Opinions about medical transition are irrelevant to this issue as no outlets have mentioned medical components of Maddie's transition. An official diagnosis of gender dysphoria was not mentioned either, but, seeing that Maddie had been consistently living as a girl for years, she more than likely has the condition. The other piece of the puzzle at hand is the Crenshaws' lifestyle and personalities as most adults (let alone parents) would not get others to gang up on a 12-year-old, transgender or otherwise.

Sources and Photos:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/us/transgender-oklahoma-school-bullying.html
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a22749115/transgender-student-oklahoma-threatened/
http://www.kxii.com/content/news/Mother-of-transgender-Achille-ISD-7th-grader-shares-struggles-following-threats-490766611.html