トランスジェンダー生徒の「トイレ問題」米州知事選の争点に　性的暴行を機に

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米国のジョー・バイデン政権の今後を占う試金石とみられているバージニア州知事選で、性自認が流動的である「ジェンダーフルイド」とされる高校生による校内女子トイレでの性的暴行事件が争点の一つとなっている。（写真は資料写真）
　バージニア州の少年裁判所は今週、ラウドン郡の１５歳の高校生に対し、今年５月に校内の女子トイレで同級生に性的暴行をしたとして有罪判決を言い渡した。
　被害者の父親は加害者がジェンダーフルイドだと地元メディアに語っているが、ＡＦＰは独自に検証できていない。米紙ワシントン・ポストによると、この問題は２５日の公判では取り上げられなかった。
　事件は「加害者が犯行当日にスカートをはいていた」という被害者の父親の主張を含め、全米で注目を集めている。
　加害者は今月、公判中に転校先でも同級生を暴行したと伝えられており、転校させた教育委員会は激しい非難を浴びている。
　ラウドン郡は今年８月、トランスジェンダーの生徒が学校で自認する性別のトイレを使用できるようにしたが、事件への反発からこの方針をめぐる議論が再燃した。
　共和党候補のグレン・ヤンキン氏（５４）は、教育委員会に対する保護者の怒りを自身の選挙戦に利用している。
　性別で分けられた空間を自身の性自認に合わせて使用できるようにするべきかについては、共和党と民主党は正反対の立場を取っている。
　共和党の保守派は、トランスジェンダーの人々がトイレや更衣室を使用する際は生まれつきの身体的性別に従うべきであり、「男性」が女性用トイレに入るのを認めるのは危険だと主張している。
　民主党は、そうした考えは根拠のない不安をあおり、罪のない人々が不当に攻撃されかねないと非難している。
　ヤンキン氏は、先日の演説ではトランスジェンダーの人々に関する政策に言及しなかったものの、「リベラル急進派」が「私たちの学校制度に教育委員会に見せ掛けた政治工作員」を送り込んでいるとこき下ろし、トランスジェンダーの権利運動を急進的とみなす保守派にアピールした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/11/01-15:48）

A sexual assault by a reportedly gender-fluid teenager in a school toilet has become a hot-button issue in the US state of Virginia's gubernatorial election, illustrating an ideological fault line among voters.
This week, a 15-year-old was found guilty by a juvenile court judge of assaulting the fellow student in a girls' bathroom in May at a Loudoun County high school in Virginia, a politically divided state whose election is seen as a bellwether for Joe Biden's presidency.
The father of the victim has told local media that the defendant is gender-fluid, which could not be independently verified by AFP, and, according to the Washington Post, was not raised in court on Monday.
The case -- and the victim's father's claim that the attacker wore a skirt on the day of the assault -- has hit the national stage, as Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin taps into parents' anger at the local school board.
The board has come under fire in large part for transferring the accused teen to another school where he allegedly assaulted another peer while facing trial.
The furor has re-ignited heated debate over a Loudoun County schools policy adopted in August allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identities.
For political scientist Larry Sabato, Youngkin has seized on the debate, which splits Republicans and Democrats.
This issue is mainly stirring energy among GOP voters and might increase their turnout, the University of Virginia professor told AFP, referring to Republicans, known in Washington as the Grand Old Party.
I find it very strange that such a localized matter has become prominent fodder in a statewide campaign -- but that is what Youngkin has chosen to make it.
- Entrenched camps -
Transgender peoples' rights have agitated American politics for years.
On the issue of whether transgender people -- a tiny fraction of the US population -- should be able to use gender-split spaces that match their gender identity, Republicans and Democrats are in opposite camps.
Republican conservatives say transgender people should have to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to the sex they were assigned at birth, leaning on an argument that it is dangerous to allow men into women's bathrooms.
Democrats denounce this as a misplaced fear leading to unfair targeting of innocent people.
The assaults have been tangled up in anger over the transgender guidelines in Loudoun County, with parents at a Tuesday school board meeting linking them to the policy, the Washington Post reported.
In June, before the policy was approved, a public board meeting turned heated, with police making arrests, including of Scott Smith, the May assault victim's father. The incident was caught on video, which went viral.
During the session, Superintendent Scott Ziegler said he was not aware of any assaults by transgender students in the county.
The predator transgender student simply does not exist, he said.
- 'Transgender radicalism' -
The stance infuriated Virginia conservatives, and things got worse for Ziegler when residents learned that the perpetrator of the assault had been charged with committing another assault on October 6. That case is still ongoing.
The controversy took on a new dimension when Youngkin took up the issue, sensing an opportunity to win back voters who had distanced themselves from former president Donald Trump.
The 54-year-old businessman did not mention transgender policies in a recent speech.
But he accused the liberal progressive movement of inserting political operatives into our school system, disguised as school boards, taking a tone that has resonated with millions of conservatives in Virginia and other states who are bristling at what they call transgender radicalism.
Democrats, and their candidate Terry McAuliffe, who fear defeat in Virginia could point to a national political trend, have been on the defensive.
Bent on keeping the governorship of the state, former president Barack Obama came to McAuliffe's aid to rally support.
In a meeting on Saturday, Obama hit out at the tack of Youngkin's campaign.
We don't have time to be wasting on these phony, trumped-up culture wars, this fake outrage the right-wing media pedals to juice their ratings, he said.