Two parents have slammed a charter school for revealing to the school community their six-year-old twins were nonbinary and gender fluid after discovering an online hate campaign.
Transgender and nonbinary Mortellus, 42, who did not want to reveal their full identity, did not think there would be an issue for their children at the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in Forest City, North Carolina, when they toured the school with their spouse Joe.
WHAT HAPPENED?
During the visit, Mortellus asked if there were any gender-neutral bathrooms because one of their children is nonbinary and the other is gender-fluid.
The couple said they were assured that although the school is still in the process of adding an ADA-compliant family bathroom, there are already single-stalled restrooms in each classroom.
But about a month later, Mortellus found out their children’s gender identity had leaked to parents, many of whom spoke out at against the school for enrolling their children.
HER STATEMENT
‘When I saw it all… I sat there quietly for a moment, feeling like my stomach bottomed out,’ they told Buzzfeed.
‘I felt nauseous. I felt sad. I battled with myself over what the right reaction was… but settled on anger.
‘They’d all put my children in danger, and the school had done nothing to make us aware.’
Mortellus, an author who describes themselves on Instagram as a ‘witch, necromancer, mortician and medium,’ said they thought the school was accommodating when they first toured the charter school.
READ ALSO: Prince William shakes BODY vigorously to Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ concert -video
They also asked about the school uniforms and how children are sorted.
‘I noted that my children, regardless of assigned gender, enjoyed wearing skirts and dresses frequently – and I was informed that the uniform policy was non-gendered and that it would not be an issue,’ Mortellus wrote.
‘I asked if students are sorted by gender – boys line up here, girls there – stating that one of my twins had been rather fluid with pronouns, flitting back and forth as it pleased them and only recently settling into a preference.’
Again, Mortellus said, they were informed the uniforms were not gender specific – with a staff member reportedly telling them they were ‘feeling very protective of them already.’
