There Is Still Hope

Marana teacher on leave after explaining how intersex people don’t fit into Trump’s executive order

In late January, Marana High School physics teacher Les Beard learned about a chromosomal disorder with relevance to current events and decided to share what he’d learned with his students. He was scrolling on his phone and read a news story about a woman with androgen insensitivity syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, and decided to share what he’d learned with his students. 

Those with the syndrome have the XY chromosomes of a male but their bodies don’t react to the hormones that cause development of male sex characteristics. Many of those with the syndrome outwardly appear to be female, but have internal sex organs of a male, according to the National Library of Medicine. Some have characteristics of both sexes. 

Beard told his students that those with the syndrome are often raised as girls and don’t find out that their chromosomes are XY until they go to the doctor to find out why their menstrual cycle never started. Many of them are in shock when told that they’re actually male, Beard said.  “None of them really believe it, because they’ve been women all their lives,” he told the students last week. Beard showed the class clothed photos of some of the women with the syndrome, which he said, “looked every bit like a woman” and asked the class, “Are these guys? Mr. Trump says so.” 

The lesson caused a “ruckus” in the classroom, which Beard — who speaks in a slow Texas drawl — said he expected, with some kids loudly disagreeing or shaking their heads while others seemed to agree with his point.  “I wanted the kids to understand that, if we make rules, they should encompass all situations that might appear,” Beard said. “It was all too easy to find an outlier that doesn’t seem to fit the two-gender idea.” 

Beard is suspended and may lose his job for daring to speak out, but he made a difference for his students’ awareness.  Thank you, Mr. Beard, for your courage!!! #teacher #teacherwhocares #Texasteacher #androgeninsensitivitysyndrome