There was not a single time in a classroom setting after the age of 5 that I used my government name. I picked the names I wanted to be referred to, with no input from my parents. A lot of kids have similar experiences. Taking that away from everyone just to hurt trans kids is so fucked and bigoted. - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

knilirabaj.bsky.social • 440 days ago

There was not a single time in a classroom setting after the age of 5 that I used my government name. I picked the names I wanted to be referred to, with no input from my parents. A lot of kids have similar experiences. Taking that away from everyone just to hurt trans kids is so fucked and bigoted.

Reposted from Jessica Kant

Missouri HB.1739 contains provisions for the immediate dismissal and 4 year suspension from employment for any nurse, teacher or social worker who calls a student a name other than that which is on their school registration forms, or fails to report a non-cis identity.
legiscan.com/MO/bill/HB17...

Comments

anniegirl.bsky.social•440 days ago

Cruelty is the point. And my guess is any collateral damage is also Missouri's way of punishing kids for being accepting of their trans classmates in the first place. A big hurdle these anti trans adults have are young ppl who don't share their views. Changing that is also baked into these laws.

coastwatcher.bsky.social•440 days ago

Missouri... So glad we left that state. Two trans friends of ours moved from St. Louis to Illinois earlier this year because of this sh!t.

ellie.thecancellations.com•440 days ago

Same, but starting around 13. My legal first name carries a fair amount of trauma whenever I have to hear it, and I'm sure I'm not alone there.

gaudipern.bsky.social•439 days ago

I used my chosen name because I have two government names and I've never had a teacher who could correctly pronounce either. The sheer relief on the faces of every last one when I interrupted attendance and said "Call me Bo" was PALPABLE.

kbyrd.bsky.social•440 days ago

Let's not ignore how much this is an attack on education and on empathy. Who will be driven away by such hate? Nice, kind, empathetic people who care about kids. And as always, it will be enforced unequally.

eyepatchguy.bsky.social•440 days ago

Also, there’s no carve out for nicknames so good luck if everyone calls you “Mike”

ceaselessinsea.bsky.social•440 days ago

Or all the people who go by their middle names. Thinking specifically of my Catholic brethren named Mary xyz who go by xyz

knilirabaj.bsky.social•439 days ago

Mary Kate, MK, was a goddess.

knilirabaj.bsky.social•440 days ago

People called Dick, Bob, Ted, and Will who refer to cars and boats as “she” are upset that other people want to change their names and explore pronouns.

eyepatchguy.bsky.social•440 days ago

Transphobes are the most singlemindedly dickheaded people on the planet

recombobulating.bsky.social•440 days ago

When I was in school I was repeatedly referred to by a part of my legal name I did not like and did not want to be used and it really messed with my sense of self.

anniegirl.bsky.social•440 days ago

I am so sorry that was done to you. No one should ever do that to anyone.

knilirabaj.bsky.social•439 days ago

💔.

nygaard.bsky.social•440 days ago

It's the first or second question a teacher asks you in school. "Did I say that right? Do you prefer a nickname?"

pdxcorgidad.bsky.social•439 days ago

I don't put my name on here, but in school I was first referred to as Bubba (thank the guy at the military base where I was born) and then, when we moved to Texas, "Nebraska". Thank the football coach for that one.

There are also 3 common variants of my name, sooo...

pdxcorgidad.bsky.social•439 days ago

I realize my nicknames "don't apply" to this, but isn't that kind of the fucking point? Selective harm and erasure.

organizer.bsky.social•440 days ago

My name was reluctantly chosen for me -- my parents never wanted a girl. Teachers would spell it a different way each year. I stopped that at around 5th grade & it doesn't match my legal documents. It's only off by a letter but reminds me neither my teachers or parents cared. I hate it.

organizer.bsky.social•440 days ago

And kids should be able to choose. The next big move is children's liberation.

nowarbutclasswar.bsky.social•440 days ago

This requires malicious compliance.

puncake.bsky.social•439 days ago

Can't say my experience was the same in school but then again, different country different rules and expectations

Doesn't make it any less shitty tho

wscotgrey.bsky.social•440 days ago

Without this small freedom, I wouldn’t have been able to explore my nerdy self, and hero worship the only good alien on “V”, who’s actor would go on to establish one of the scariest villains in the movies. I went by “Willie” for a whole year.

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akivamcohen.bsky.social•440 days ago

Oh, don't worry - the language expressly allows teachers to use those nicknames as long as the parent agrees in writing, so this is pretty much guaranteed to only hurt non-out trans kids or other kids who have shit relationships with their parents. Yay, facilitating abuse!

isamclaren.bsky.social•440 days ago

My parents called me by my middle name their whole lives. It was intentional. You can't swing a cat without hitting 6 other Isabels so it was a common tradition. Every school year, I had to tell teachers I don't go by Isabel.

*I do now

bookwyrm42.bsky.social•439 days ago

Right? My 7th-grade math class *alone* had 5 students named Jennifer.

alcoremortis.bsky.social•440 days ago

My own parents never even called me the name that was on my school registration forms. I didn't answer to it.

voxexsinister.bsky.social•440 days ago

I picked the start of highschool (age 12 here) to change my government name, & just refused to answer to anything but my preferred name. It stuck.

jmnphillips.bsky.social•440 days ago

Legally I am "James" but I use "Jim".

Woe to any teacher that calls me "Jim". 🙄

amandagapp.bsky.social•440 days ago

The number of stories I have heard where a child (often a boy in the south) learns what their government name is for the first time on the first day of kindergarten. Because they have never heard it!

strawberry92fs.bsky.social•440 days ago

My government first name has 5 syllables. And is remarkably similiar to a 2 syllable name, and both share the same 1 syllable shortening. I coulda got so many educators fired. XD