7-year-old transgender child

Tell the McIntosh Board of Education to allow a 7-year-old transgender boy access to a safe restroom.

Tommy Theollyn's seven-year-old son -- who we'll call "D." -- looks like a boy. While he was born biologically female, D. feels, deep in his heart, that he is a boy -- and wears boys' clothing and has short hair.

Tommy has done everything a caring parent would do to help a child going through a potentially tough time. D. has been to a psychologist and doctor, both of whom say that the right thing for Tommy to do is allow D. to live as a boy.

So Tommy is trying to do just that for his son. But there's one big problem: D. has been denied access to the boys' restroom -- or a safe restroom -- at his elementary school in Georgia. Since forcing D. to use the girls' restroom effectively reveals that he is transgender to other children, this decision seriously threatens D.'s safety. Which is why Tommy made the heartbreaking decision to pull his son out of school.

But Tommy believes his son should have access to a safe restroom at school. That's why Tommy started a petition on Change.org asking the McIntosh County Board of Education in Georgia to allow D. to use a safe restroom at school. Please sign Tommy's petition today -- and he will deliver your signatures to the board on September 15.

Before starting the school year, Tommy had spoken with D.'s teacher about letting D. use the boys' restroom and thought the matter was settled. But then Dr. William Hunter, McIntosh superintendent, decided to get involved. Dr. Hunter said that D. had to use the girls' restroom, and threatened to call Child Protective Services on Tommy for allowing D. to live as a boy. Tommy tried to explain that he was acting on the advice of D.'s doctors, but Dr. Hunter wasn't interested. 

Now, more than 5,000 people have signed the petition that Tommy started on Change.org. Tommy is scheduled to speak at the next meeting of the McIntosh County Board of Education on September 15. Tommy says he's afraid of what might happen at that meeting, as McIntosh isn't a place where LGBT rights have traditionally been supported. 

Tommy says that he feels stronger with every person who signs his petition in support of his son. He wants the McIntosh Board of Education to know that thousands of Americans stand with D. and support his right to be exactly who he is.

Please sign Tommy's petition today asking the McIntosh County Board of Education to allow his seven-year-old son to have safe access to a restroom at school:

http://www.change.org/petitions/mcintosh-county-georgia-schools-allow-my-transgender-son-to-use-a-safe-restroom-at-school