SCHAUMBURG – Schaumburg High School parent Ralph Bonatz addressed the D 211 School District Board this week about a controversy growing over a male student demanding access to the girls' locker room at Schaumburg High School.
"…[L]et’s remind ourselves, these are minors we are talking about here," Bonatz told the board. "I don’t want my daughter at risk of being intentionally or accidentally exposed to a penis or a fully unclothed male in her high school locker room. Do you?"
Bonatz posted his testimony in full on the D211 Parents for Privacy Facebook page.
Hello, my name is Ralph Bonatz. I’ve been a district resident for about 19 years and have two children at Schaumburg High School. I’m here today to address the Board of Education and the Superintendent about the latest lawsuit and to comment on a message sent out by the Superintendent, Dr. Daniel Cates, dated December 1, 2017, regarding that lawsuit. I appreciate this opportunity.
With regard to the lawsuit, I want to urge all of you to not settle out of court or give into the demands of this male student. Please contest this with all the fervor and determination you can muster. It is no wonder that the Illinois Department of Human Rights has dismissed the related case since the IL Human Rights Act has an exemption for facilities distinctly private, such as restrooms and locker rooms that are divided based on sex. The board is on solid ground. Further erosion of the privacy rights of D211 students is at stake and would be unacceptable.
The access to girls’ locker rooms and restrooms already offered to this male student is a huge overstep that creates an uncomfortable and unwelcome environment in private spaces for students. Also, let’s remind ourselves, these are minors we are talking about here. I don’t want my daughter at risk of being intentionally or accidentally exposed to a penis or a fully unclothed male in her high school locker room. Do you? No risk of this happening, you say? How so? I say. If you were to allow a biological male to change right alongside her in the girls’ locker room, this would basically be sanctioning indecent exposure and leaving the district open to yet more lawsuits. The other side says it’s an extreme position to force this boy with gender dysphoria into the boys’ locker room. I say it is even more extreme for the same boy to force his way into the girls’ locker room, even if it's to change in a private area within that locker room. What about considering the modesty, mental health and heightened sensitivities of all the girls in the locker room, especially as they are progressing through puberty and some are undoubtedly dealing with their own serious issues, like sexual abuse survivors. There are good reasons locker rooms and restrooms are separated based on biological sex. Privacy begins at the locker room and restroom doors. That much should be obvious! All D211 staff share in the responsibility of guarding the safety, dignity and emotional well-being of every student in D211 schools. Give staff the backing they need to do so by fighting and winning this legal action.
With regard to your message, Superintendent Cates, there were some statements that I found very upsetting and naive. For example, you said, “Our staff members and students recognize, respect and celebrate the complete range of unique and marvelous human differences, many of which are best served through supportive accommodations.”
Then you reinforced this thought later in your message when you stated, “The students and staff members in our schools are not divided on this issue.”
While I have no problem providing reasonable and supportive accommodations to students with special requests or needs, current arrangements are in no way reasonable and appear to be all too one-sided. It is outrageous to think that girls are subject to being seen partially or fully undressed in their locker room by a male student.
What shocks me most is your assertion that all staff members and students recognize, respect and celebrate the conditions at issue here. Worse than just being presumptuous, your notion is completely and verifiably false. Do you honestly believe you can ascribe this position to all the staff and students in D211? Of course you can’t! There are many staff and students that don’t feel this way. Just within my circle of acquaintances and friends within Schaumburg High School there are many students and staff who disagree with how D211 goes about accommodating students who identify as the opposite sex. What about the pending lawsuit against the district brought by over 50 D211 families who are in vehement disagreement with what the district is currently doing?
To all D211 staff, I say this, are you comfortable with Superintendent Cates characterizing your position in such absolute and strong terms? Even he acknowledges in his message that “Still today, these matters divide communities across the nation.” Our community is no different.
Unanimity does not exist here. In fact, my informal canvassing of the district employees and residents indicates more people are united against current district practices than for them. D211 staff who oppose what is happening, we need you now more than ever to be bold and make your true feelings known to your colleagues and the administration. Surely, you understand that silence implies consent.
Do not succumb to these extreme measures being pushed by the radical ‘trans’ ideology crowd. Don’t buy into the junk science behind this movement. If you apply some critical thinking to their ideas, you’ll quickly see just how faulty and dangerous they are. You know that biological sex is not based on feelings. It is determined by your chromosomes and indicated by anatomical features. You know that a person can never truly change their gender. Don’t take part in aiding and affirming this charade. This only ends up hurting gender confused/stressed students, rather them helping them cope with reality.
I entreat you to consider other implications of the direction our district and the state are heading. For instance, how about the impacts to girls’ high school sports programs. In some states, we've seen biological boys participating on girls’ sports teams. A biological male was allowed to participate in Alaska’s Girls State Track & Field Championships where he took places away from deserving girls in the 100 and 200 meter finals. At the Texas Girls State Wrestling Championships, a female athlete who identified as a boy and had been on testosterone treatments for well over a year, won her weight class title, completing a 56 – 0 season. Her treatments gave her an unfair competitive advantage, significantly increasing her muscle mass, and potentially putting other participants at risk of injury! Neither of these students should have been allowed to compete. The hopes and dreams of other legitimate competitors were crushed as a result. Trainers and coaches, lack of action now will have you on the sidelines later, watching as girl athletes are robbed of achievement and denied opportunities by impostors.
Things get even more outrageous when school boards and administrators start talking about things like sexually integrated accommodations for school sponsored overnight events. Or how about being forced to “use incorrect pronouns or newly invented words when referring to students who masquerade as the opposite sex, or those who ‘identify’ as both male and female” with terms like “pangender,” “bigender,” or “genderfluid” or those who claim to be “genderless,” also referred to as “agender”.
D211 staff, is our district heading down the same road? Are we already there? Where the refusal to lie to a student could lead to a staff member being suspended, losing their job, or being disciplined in some other way?
D211 staff, are you really ready for the full ramifications that abandoning basic differences in anatomy and biology between male and female will bring, the adverse impacts it will have on progress women have worked so hard to gain over the last several decades? Will you abandon what basic anatomy, science and biology tell us? Please let the administration and your union know how you feel. Organize and fight back. Ensure truth is promulgated in our schools, not lies and confusion.
Superintendent Cates, you closed your message by stating, “This is our commitment now and throughout whatever challenges are put before us, regardless of agenda or cause.” I trust this latest lawsuit has made it abundantly clear to you and the board, that an agenda and a cause borne out of radical ‘trans’ ideology is precisely what is being pressed upon our school district.
Thank you for your attention.
