Whatever helps bring our moral and ethical values down the tube is good. If you don't believe me, ask the Taliban specialist.

Yeah, that was an episode of South Park.

The people attacking her here obviously don't know the first thing about a sex change. This is a PROCESS, people, not an instant event. No, minkeydude, this has absolutely nothing to do with tattooing a penis to your forehead -- a totally inappropriate analogy. The reason a sex change is visible in the first place is that it requires the gradual introduction of hormones into the body -- a process that takes months, and often YEARS. No child is going to be traumatized by seeing Mr. McBeth turn into Mrs. McBeth overnight, because it takes a very long time. If a sex change were an instant event, we'd probably have a lot more people (perhaps many of the ignorant jerks here included who are obviously still working through their own gender insecurities) changing their sex as often as they changed their shoes. Hasn't this person surely endured enough ridicule already before you fools need to add your insults? Nothing I or you will say can go beyond the excellent first comment, "But is she a good teacher?," which is the only relevant question in this situation. And as for you, Cait2040, who wouldn't send your kid to the school, that's your problem, not hers. Ironically, it's you who need to change, not Mrs. McBeth.

In a kids view, the teacher has the power of a parent yet less respect than the geekiest kid on the playground. Because of this, kids naturally over-analyze teachers to get an edge on their proverbial jailer. I know what I would have been thinking...kids have an amazing imagination. Don't give them the ammo. There's other jobs or retirement.

America is supposed to stand for Freedom,Liberty,Equality and the pursuit of happiness.People with Gender Dysphoria suffer from a well documented Medical and Psychological affliction.Someone who has had Gender Reassignment Surgery has gone through years of treatment by a team of Medical Experts and they have not broken any laws or hurt anyone.Would you also discriminate against a teacher who had some other form of corrective surgery or does your prejudice and vehemence stem from personal sexual insecurities and anxieties?

I don't like it, but the parents must make an issue of this if it is so bothersome.

I would like to post a re-buttle to Drummond's comment that, while articulate and well-written, is incorrect in this particular sitatution. This is critical to Drummond's post and to the issue in general. Lily McBeth did not have a birth defect, and this was indeed a lifestyle choice, and one regarding sexual preference. Anyone who undergoes surgery for a birth defect should of course be entitled to keep their job. But this surgery was about issues with homosexuality that Lily had been fighting with her whole life. She was a champion athlete as a young man and became a husband and father for 33 years and finally, enough was enough, she wanted to finally accept her true self. Now this is all well and dandy - but not when your occupation is teaching youngsters. Let me ask you this - if Lily, instead of undergoing a sex change, wanted to get a big tatoo of a penis on her forehead, would this be acceptable? Hey, she'd been fighting the urge to have a penis on her head her whole life. Now she feels free to do it, so should she keep her job? Where do we draw the line?

In light of all the confusion this person deals with in his/her personal life, I don't think she should lose his job. I will state, unequivocally, that the resume he submitted to get the job might now be a false representation of her qualification to teach. Other than that, I don't see it as a landmark case, regardless of the pasionate views (both pro and con) it evokes on our discussion fray. I just can't bring myself to care . . . or begin to fathom how we got here. Go ahead, Ma'am, teach the kids what you know. We'll straighten out the confusion at home, if we can. (He/she finally got it straightened out? At age 71?)

Cait2040, Well said! Why dont we let a Cross dressing freak teach Reading, A tattoood person with implanted Fangs teach writing, and A KKK member in his costume teach Math! Im sure that is the right environment for the kids to focus and learn right?! As long as they dont bring their politics into it it should be Cool huh?? What a freaking Joke!! Someone tell me the difference here! This kind of blind acceptance is just ludicrous! Im will not stand by while so many are just willing to let thier kids classrooms turn into a three ring circus. As a musician to the bones, I wish I could come to work in what Im really comfortable in. My jeans, earring, spikey hair, unshaved face and costume jewelry on wrists and neck..ya know..be myself..but at work there is a "uniform" of sorts that I put on, so that I garner respect from customers and prospective ones. What is the diference. If youve grown up, you know that you can be "yourself" in only very few instances throughout a whole day. These types (gender changers) are having a real problem just living in society as it is for the most part. I think I might want them to take some time sorting out thier own identity for christ sake before they become an important role model to my children.

The sex change gets in the way of the teaching. Can't share the laissez-faire attitude some below display: "Hey, if she's a good teacher, what's the problem?" Think about the ramifications of that retarded statement for a moment. You're opening up another Pandora's box, and children are once again in the petri dish. Like I've said before on this web site, we care more about individual civil rights than we do about children.

In my day the teacher was a role model. Those who can't see anything wrong with this picture should really pull their heads out a place on their anatomy where it was awkward to stick it in the first place!

I know people who have had "sex changes," but this is a misnomer. They don't change their sex. They correct a birth defect. One woman went through with the surgery, removing and restructuring the male parts, and they discovered atrophied ovaries. She really was supposed to be a woman. One doesn't go through this extreme surgery as a matter of "lifestyle choice." This isn't even about sexual preference. This is about surgical correction of a birth defect. We know very little about sexual development at the early fetal stage, but we do know that there are coctails of hormones that bathe the fetus. There are specific combinations for each sex. We know that for a number of potential reasons, the mother's body may get its signals crossed and change the combination in mid stream, after some level of development has already been sent in one direction. This may even account for homosexuality, but it certainly accounts for transexualism. There are also men who are born with xx chromosomes, and women who are xy, and both who are xyy, xxy, xxxxxyyyy, and so on. So no, I won't be getting off of my "I'm so open minded highhorse." This isn't the dark ages where burning witches and curing with leeches is a matter of "common sense." We have the information. You can choose to access it, or you can ignore it and feel heroic in your prejudices. Bottom line, if she is a good teacher, I'm fine with my kid in her class. He has already met transexuals.

So? My concern would be if they were a good teacher. another example where the way too powerful gossipy pain in the neck PTA thinks they have the right to take over and have things their way. i would have no problem letting one of my kids have this person as a teacher.

Uh, kids. . .grow the hell up. . .this means you actually 'live' in America. . .if a teacher can teach well, then consider yourself lucky. . .how much longer is America going to blame the failure of their kids on teachers?

I really fail to see the problem. How is this "immoral" or "unamerican" Leave it out.

The things that people obsess about. Do you genuinely care? If you had a child in this person's class, would you really object? I'd really like to know. On what grounds? If he/she had a history of sexual misconduct, yes, I'd be concerned, but that's clearly not the case here (because it would've been reported by now). I guess, as an instructor, the most irrelevant of concerns would be at the top of my mind: Can she teach?

Your point? It's not like she's hurting anyone by doing so. Your child won't come home and tell you that they want to be a man "Just like Miss---oops, I mean, Mr.Johanson".

But is she a good teacher?