Much has been said about the bullying history of both of the presumed presidential nominees for 2012.
Last week a North Carolina teacher was put on paid suspension because she got caught bullying her own classroom on the topic of which candidate had been the worse bully years previous.
Bullies--we are told--are the cause of everything from eating disorders to teen suicide.
The Trayvon Martin case had originally been sold through the media as a case in which an older vigilante wanted to bully a young child.
Bullying as a subject itself has even been bullied a great deal. Specifically, the man who started an all out effort to encourage people not to bully sexually confused children, then himself bullied children who shared a different view of faith than he did.
Yet no one seems to be noticing that those who claim to be against the worst forms of bullying are the very ones now exploiting their role in the federal government to bully others.
Hence is the battle before the University of Arkansas Fort Smith.
To be specific, the Department of Justice issued an "advisement" to the university earlier this month. And after having their attorneys review it the university acted on the "advice of counsel" and are following the advisement.
What was the great injustice that the University of Arkansas Fort Smith was committing?
They had refused to allow a 38-year-old male student to use any and all female facilities on campus. So per the communication from the administration, Eric Holder, Barack Obama and company, and acting on the hopes the DOJ would play nice, they caved.
And now the 38-year-old anatomically male student, who goes by the name Jennifer Braly, and refers to himself as a "transgender" (instead of transvestite) has been given campus wide permission to enter any and all female facilities.
Since the university had initially denied the access, I'm sure you're pondering how the DOJ got mixed up in this to begin with. According to Mark Horn, the Vice President of university relations it was pretty simple.
"Because of the stance we took, the individual (Braly) filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights at the DOJ. We tried to make reasonable accommodation to find 'common' ground, converting a number of bathrooms on campus to gender neutral (single user). But in the eyes of the law (DOJ) (Braly) is entitled to use the bathrooms that she identifies with."
So let me understand properly…
Under threat of legal action, point of gun, or whatever authority the executive branch cites, a state-run university must force the visible discomfort of the female students on campus, so that a 38-year-old male, with his male parts intact, can feel "ok" about himself, while putting on women's clothing? (Or in the case of the female locker rooms on campus--taking it off?)
Please also note the undercurrent of this action taken by the Department of Justice. The implication is that if the university doesn't comply the action they take will be based on the withholding of "civil" rights.
Practical question here: what's to keep any number of other men from donning female duds, claiming they feel feminine that day, and hang in locker rooms for say non-"identity"-related rationale?
Understand that this case doesn't involve any claim to sex change. Which from a medical standpoint shouldn't matter either. The human genome and DNA footprint of someone who undergoes a sex change operation still registers as their original gender for the rest of history regardless of what parts they had taken off or put on.
But Braly prefers to live--pretending to be female--while keeping his male parts.
Is it honestly the responsibility of the University of Arkansas to look into whatever dysfunction is being played out in Braly's mind, emotions, and heart and to attempt to re-order their universe to pander to it?
Does the Department of Justice--by turning this into a question of civil rights--and bullying the university into conformity--have any concern in their hearts for the women on campus who are already expressing their discomfort at the idea of a 38 year old member suddenly appearing before them in the locker rooms or bathrooms across campus?
Or would the Department of Justice label those women "unreasonable, hateful, or transgenderphobic?" Worse yet would DOJ seek to punish the women on campus for the natural shock and displeasure that the majority of them will feel at such a revelation?
Certainly the university could dare the DOJ to take them to the judicial branch to attempt objective voices to be heard in the matter. But depending on which circuit, and how long it takes, the university might have to pour millions of dollars to marshal a defense of something that only a generation ago was commonly understood to be ludicrous.
People like Braly are deeply injured and need a vast amount of empathy and compassion. But neither the university campus, nor the public dime should be used as resources to put innocent people at risk at best, or at worst further the dysfunction by allowing the behavior to be encouraged and duplicated.
And people… if they can force the University of Arkansas Fort Smith into conformity, what's to stop them from trying it on Ohio State, the University of Texas, or say you're local parochial private school?
At the end of the day, some of the best people to end bullying were parents who said "Stop… Because I said so!"
In this case, since "We The People" sit in authority over the DOJ, Eric Holder and even President Obama, perhaps it's time we serve as their parent and put an end to the true foolishness of such folly.
Especially since most bullies will only respond to an even stronger authority, an articulate instruction, and a firmer will.
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