On Tuesday's New Day on CNN, after a report about an Illinois school district under pressure to allow a transgender student to use a girls' locker room, co-host Michaela Pereira complained that it was "frustrating" that the transgender student in question had supposedly not been consulted enough in the matter.
After co-host Chris Cuomo recalled the argument by parents concerned about having a "boy in the girls' locker room," she condescendingly asserted that "we need education" for such opponents.
She also obliviously wondered, "Why is safety an issue?" as Cuomo alluded to the "risk of other kids' privacy and safety."
At 7:11 a.m., co-host Alisyn Camerota read the report:
Here's an interesting story. An Illinois school district denied a transgender student who identifies as a woman access to the girls' locker room. And the federal government says that violates the law. Federal authorities now giving the school one month to provide full access to the girls' locker room or lose federal funding. The school district says it has done nothing wrong. It calls this ordeal, quote, "serious overreach," and believes this course of action serves the dignity and the privacy, they say, of all students.
She then commented:
This is an interesting one, and it won't be the first case that we'll see like this.
Pereira jumped in to complain about finding it "frustrating." Pereira:
Issues of identity are so important. It's so frustrating to me when people forget to talk to the student, the individual, about their own identity and how they identify, and keep them as part of the process instead of making sort of the, you know, "We can't do this, we have to protect other people." What about this person's identity? It's so important.
Cuomo then started recounting the more conservative views of some parents, leading Pereira to wonder why "safety" was an issue, and to suggest that those who disagree with her more liberal view need "education":
CHRIS CUOMO: It's true, but it's the identity at the risk of other kids' privacy and safety. So you have parents who say-
MICHAELA PEREIRA: Why is safety an issue?
CUOMO: Well, because you have a boy in the girls' locker room, according to the parents of these other kids, right?
PEREIRA: We need education.
After Cuomo continued, Pereira raised the need for "education" again:
CUOMO: And because you'll say you identify hasn't been recognized in the law yet as a dispositive way for someone to lead their lives. So you have the other parents the school has got to be concerned about. And they say: "Wait a minute. You've got a boy in the girls' locker room with my daughter?" And now they have to deal with that.
PEREIRA: That's where education needs to be, and awareness has to be primary.
Below is a complete transcript of the segment from the Tuesday, November 3, New Day on CNN:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Here's an interesting story. An Illinois school district denied a transgender student who identifies as a woman access to the girls' locker room. And the federal government says that violates the law. Federal authorities now giving the school one month to provide full access to the girls' locker room or lose federal funding. The school district says it has done nothing wrong. It calls this ordeal, quote, "serious overreach," and believes this course of action serves the dignity and the privacy, they say, of all students.
CAMEROTA: This is an interesting one, and it won't be the first case that we'll see like this.
MICHAELA PEREIRA: Issues of identity are so important. It's so frustrating to me when people forget to talk to the student, the individual, about their own identity and how they identify, and keep them as part of the process instead of making sort of the, you know, "We can't do this, we have to protect other people." What about this person's identity? it's so important.
CHRIS CUOMO: It's true, but it's the identity at the risk of other kids' privacy and safety. So you have parents who say-
PEREIRA: Why is safety an issue?
CUOMO: Well, because you have a boy in the girls' locker room, according to the parents of these other kids, right? And because you'll say you identify-
PEREIRA: We need education.
CUOMO: -hasn't been recognized in the law yet as a dispositive way for someone to lead their lives. So you have the other parents the school has got to be concerned about. And they say: "Wait a minute. You've got a boy in the girls' locker room with my daughter?"
CAMEROTA: Right.
CUOMO: And now they have to deal with that.
PEREIRA: That's where education needs to be, and awareness has to be primary.
CAMEROTA: Yeah, I mean, it's a tough one to make every single person on all sides comfortable.with this one. But this is the first one going to a federal court, so this precedent will be very interesting to watch.
CUOMO: Won't be the last case. That's for sure. You're seeing more and more of this, and, you know, it's going to start with parents, with schools, and with society.
