MAX WHITTAKER / PRIME FOR NBC NEWSan hour
Transgender Teacher Returns to School a Woman
BY JONEL ALECCIA
A California high school science teacher gave students and
colleagues a new lesson in biology Monday, showing up for the first time as a
woman a week after her plans to switch genders became suddenly public.
The former Gary Sconce, 56 — an award-winning educator,
husband, father and grandfather who has taught at Yosemite High School for 24
years — will now be known as Karen Adell Scot, she said.
“I’m actually going to work as my real 'out' self,” Scot
told NBC News. “I stand in front of the class and I’m so filled with joy.”
Under a long auburn wig and makeup, wearing a blue flowered
dress and size 12W open-toed shoes, the transgender teacher said her brain will
now match her body after a transition that has been a lifetime in coming.
“I will not return as my male persona ever again,” she said.
Image: Karen Scot prepares for her first day teaching as a
transgendered woman MAX WHITTAKER / PRIME FOR NBC NEWS
Karen Scot, 56, gets dressed at her North Fork, Calif., home
before her first day teaching as a transgendered woman at Yosemite High School
in Oakhurst, Calif. Scot has been a science teacher for 30 years.
The change has stirred controversy in the small town of
Oakhurst, Calif., in the Gold Rush territory just outside Yosemite National
Park. One neighbor, Kathi Bales, wrote a letter published in the local
newspaper last week telling Scot to quit her job and urging the community to
reject her.
“I see this as an assault on the minds and morals of our
children,” she wrote. “It blurs the lines of what is right and wrong.”
Others, however, have rallied to support Scot, saying she’s
a role model for integrity, courage and authenticity.
“Karen is truly an inspiration to everyone,” said Julia
Cruz, 34, of nearby Coarsegold, Calif., whose 18-year-old daughter, Erin Asis,
was a student of the former Mr. Sconce.
"I never expected it, but I'm very happy for her,"
Asis said. "She'll still be the same excellent teacher that she is."
Image: Karen Scot shows a note from one of her students MAX
WHITTAKER / PRIME FOR NBC NEWS
Karen Scot shows a note from one of her students.
Students presented Scot with a giant card and cookies in
class Monday.
"Ms. Scot: No matter what anyone says you are
courageous and beautiful for being who you truly are," wrote student
Charlotte Smith. "You are my hero."
Scot notified district officials and colleagues earlier this
year that she had started the medical and social process to transition from
male to female and that she would return after spring break in April as a
woman.
"Being transgender is not a choice," she wrote to
colleagues.
But someone from the school — a colleague, Scot guessed —
leaked her letter to the local paper, sparking a firestorm of reaction.
"Being transgender is not a choice."
Administrators also sent a letter to parents of the school’s
650 students advising them that the school district is bound by California law,
specifically Education Section Code 220, not to discriminate against Scot
because of her gender identity.
"The District recognizes that Mr. Sconce's transition
may raise questions among students, parents, guardians and community
members," Yosemite Unified School District Superintendent James Sargent
wrote. "Counseling staff will be available to discuss any issue with
students."
The result was that Scot's private decision was suddenly
very public. Instead of waiting until after the break, she decided to adopt her
female persona immediately.
“I was outed in a horrible way,” Scot said. “That was not
the plan. It was supposed to be a quiet transition.”
School district officials did not respond to NBC calls and
emails about the accelerated timeline.
Image: Karen Scot prepares for her first day teaching as a
woman MAX WHITTAKER / PRIME FOR NBC NEWS
Karen Scot shaves as she gets ready for her first day
teaching as a woman.
Transgender experts typically advise teachers and other
public figures to make the change as quietly and unobtrusively as possible,
said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender
Equality in Washington, D.C.
There are about 700,000 transgender people in the United
States, according to estimates by Gary Gates, a demographer who specializes in
gender research at the Williams Institute at the University of California Los
Angeles. That’s about 0.3 percent of the adult population.
While it’s not common, Keisling said she has counseled
several teachers about gender transition. “One of the first things I tell them
is not to, under any circumstances, do any media and tell your school not to do
any media.”
She would have advised the district against notifying
parents about what is essentially a private personnel matter.
“School districts can’t afford to lose the kind of money
they’d lose in a lawsuit if they discriminated against her,” Keisling said.
“But that’s not the underlying reason they’re being decent about it. They have
a good teacher and they don’t want to lose him or her.”
Gary Sconce received awards for distinguished teaching, Scot
said, and he was a favorite for many of the thousands of students whose lives
he touched. But Scot said she had known since early childhood that she was a
girl, and tried to sublimate the feelings in typical male behavior.
“I did all the hypermasculine activities,” Scot said.
“Playing college football, surfing, being a deputy sheriff, a martial arts
instructor. I was a hot rodder and and I loved building cars. All of that
hypermasculine stuff.”
Image: Karen Scot works out before her first day teaching as
a woman MAX WHITTAKER / PRIME FOR NBC NEWS
Karen Scot works out at home before her first day teaching
as a woman at Yosemite High School.
Last year, though, after extensive counseling, Scot said she
had to tell the truth to her family, including a wife of 35 years and a grown
son and daughter. She was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition in which
a person’s gender is at odds with the gender he or she identifies with, causing
clinically significant distress.
Scot's counselor, Carol Montgomery Brosnac of Fresno,
Calif., who specializes in transgender therapy, said the conflict is acute.
"There's always a strong drive to present as the gender
they are," she said.
In recent years, scientists have documented that the brain
structure in transgender people is actually more like their preferred gender
than their biological one.
For some transgender people, like Scot, that difference can
cost them their families, their friends and their jobs.
Scot said she's in contact with her son, 32, but not with
her daughter, 31. Her wife of 35 years wants a divorce.
She has begun taking drugs to block testosterone and adding
female hormones to reshape her body. She practiced living full-time as a woman
last fall while recovering from a car crash for several months. She’s planning
gender reassignment surgery, but not for at least a year.
Already, though, Scot said the change is remarkable. “You’re
congruent,” she said. “Your mind is a female mind and it knows what to do with
those hormones.”
District officials have been clear that Scot can keep her
job, but she’s under strict orders not to discuss her gender issues with her
students. This morning, the school principal, Randy Seals, emphasized that
point to the students, Scot said.
“One of the things I had to push, push, push is that Ms.
Scot will be teaching science,” she said. “Ms. Scot will not be pushing any
social agenda.”
Scot will likely face increased scrutiny because of wide
attention to her case. If the transition had been made quietly, it could have
been different, Keisling said.
“The other school employees and the students will find it
interesting for about a minute,” said Keisling. “For the first 10 minutes, the
kids will say, ‘This is unusual,’ and then it’s just boring old Ms. Scot.”
There might be a larger unspoken lesson, however, said
Jennifer Levi of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, or GLAAD, an advocacy
group in Boston.
“To have a teacher be authentic ultimately is good for
students and for the community,” she said.
“I am totally my own best defense. I may look like I girl,
but I can take care of myself.”
Scot acknowledged that the change won’t be easy. Not
everyone will be supportive, she said. Some parents already have threatened to
move their children from her classes or to switch schools entirely. She’s heard
that some students whisper about which bathroom she’ll use. (Answer: The
faculty bathroom, as always.)
Scot knows that transgender females are frequent victims of
threats and violence.
But Scot said with years of law-enforcement and martial arts
training under her belt, she feels confident about her ability to protect
herself. After retirement in a few years, Scot said she might want to work
teaching transgender youth how to defend themselves.
“I am totally my own best defense,” she said. “I may look
like I girl, but I can take care of myself.”
First published March 24th 2014, 12:36 pm
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