God bless Leslie. I hope you are the new person you were seeking to be. I’m sorry your employer decided to put you center stage and stab the children’s psyche with such a complex personal issue not of the children’s making at such tender ages rather than just the new male appearance as a caring teacher speak for itself.

The Duke School administration is dead wrong in making it an issue for the kids. Kids reflect how they are treated whether by male or by female. All this whoopla to “support” Leslie undermines the kids’ judgement. If it wasn’t questionable to begin with then Duke School would have done and said nothing.

I still kinda stand by the position that it is really the parents job to educate their kids on what is going on, rather then the school to blurt it out in a large setting.

I certainly agree that Leslie should not resign (if she has, I missed that, and that would be tragic.) While, like you, I do not necessarily agree with the lifestyle, it is not about me, and this is America, where something like this really hurts no one else. As you said, she is a good teacher, and we need to retain good teachers.

My big point is, of course, more about the parents telling the kids, rather then the school, and no more. I’m not so sure how other kids would react, and it might not be good for some of them, but, best if it is in the parents hands.

So, again, thank you for standing up for Leslie’s rights, whether you agree with her decision or not. Hopefully, there are more parents like you out there, who, right or wrong, will give Leslie the chance, as well as dignified treatment.

“Wow Jim. That’s some reaction.

But I don’t get it. Sexual reassignment–like it or not, agree with it or not, believe in it or not–has been a fact of modern society for some time. Another fact and cornerstone of our modern democracy, in the marketplace of ideas, is one of academic freedom and liberal thought. When I say “liberal thought,” I mean the process of learning about realities and people we don’t understand, as opposed to pretending they don’t exist, forcing them into the closet or worse: destroying them. Which might be what you are doing to Leslie.

Teachers and curriculums will often expose our children to points of view that we might not agree with or in some cases (especially in college), are simply factually wrong. But that’s part of learning to become a critical thinker: Nobody’s right about everything, so we need to sort it out for ourselves ultimately.

I explained Leslie’s situation to my children in a very honest and explicit way, and they were was just fine. I’m not saying you should take that approach. If you would rather tell them that Leslie just feels like a man but is still really a woman, then that’s what you should do. But don’t infringe on Leslie’s rights in the process. Or the larger community’s.

There is no reason you should have been given weeks or months to prepare for Leslie’s personal decision to become a new person. It’s simply not about you or your children in any significant way. It’s about Leslie.

I have my own philosophical questions and scientific issues about the real effects of sexual reassignment surgery. And I discussed those with my daughter as well. But I also asked her to respect Leslie’s decision, despite my personal problems with it.

So Jim, here’s what I don’t get: Why should Leslie have resigned? Because you don’t like his decision? It seems to me that the problem is more yours than Leslie’s, and that you should address it another, more considerate, way. For example, there are plenty of other schools that would be more supportive of your point of view. Just a thought.”

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Webster has put a lot of time and talent into the music program at our school, and she has as much right to retain her posiiton as somone with, say, breast implants. People shouldn’t be forced to find a new job and start a carreer over again just because they’ve made a physical change. Jim Gossett is a loudmouth reactionary AND a lone voice in the wilderness, at least in our enlightened community.