Bearing False Witness - a Chronology

Here's the story - a hoax, a malicious libel, deliberately designed to persecute one particular child.

A male student at Florence High School who claims to be a transgender has been harrassing girls in the bathroom......

No interviews. No sources, other than the Pacific Justice Institute. The same group that has lodged formal objections to teaching in science class that the Earth orbits the Sun as that contradicts Scripture, thereby "creating a hostile environment for those of faith".

create a hostile learning environment for those of faith. - See more at: http://www.pacificjustice.org/1/post/2013/09/atheistic-elementary-school-instruction-challenged.html#sthash.Wz1xhNEL.dpuf

The same group that objected to students being taught in biology class that Clownfish change sex, as that "goes against the family values of the majority".

 "Drumming Up Business" - when ambulance-chasing lawyers can't find crash victims, what are they to do? Maybe a little insurance fraud, "manufacturing" fake accidents. 

Earlier this year, PJI led the opposition in California to AB 1266, the most sweeping legislation yet to assert transgender rights in schools.  That law, which is set to take effect January 1, 2014, is currently being targeted by a citizen referendum drive.
 
1. Original story on CBN:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2013/October/No-Recourse-for-Girls-Harassed-by-Transgender-Student/

2. Picked up by The Examiner
www.examiner.com/article/what-a-shocker-transgender-male-harassing-girls-high-school-bathroom

3. And CharismaNews
http://news.charismanews.com/us/41346-transgender-boy-harassing-girls-in-the-bathroom-gets-no-punishment

4. The DesertReview adds new allegations of "sexually harassing comments"
http://www.thedesertreview.com/nightmare-teen-boy-harasses-girls-in-their-bathroom-colo-school-tells-girls-they-have-no-rights

5. Picked up by the UK Daily Mail, a national newspaper
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2457952/Girls-harassed-school-bathroom-transgender-student-told-rights-trump-privacy.html

6. Thence Fox News
http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/10/14/girls-harassed-school-bathroom-transgender-student-told-his-rights-trump-their-privacy#
 
The Pacific Justice Institute makes a press release, again alleging "sexually harassing comments".

sexually harassing comments

sexually harassing comments

http://www.pacificjustice.org/1/post/2013/10/nightmare-teen-boy-harasses-girls-in-their-bathroom-colo-school-tells-girls-they-have-no-rights.html

But.. then it all starts to fall apart. The real story starts to come out.

Audio of interview with school superintendent.
https://soundcloud.com/cristan-williams/fact-checking-trans-student 

Account apparently from a student at the school - and consistent with the Superintendent's testimony on the record.
http://news.charismanews.com/us/41346-transgender-boy-harassing-girls-in-the-bathroom-gets-no-punishment#comment-1079140658

Analysis and summary
http://www.transadvocate.com/trans-student-attacking-girls-in-restroom-or-you-know-not.htm/comment-page-1

Curtsey and thanks to Christan Williams - who did the fact checking that neither the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Daily Mail, nor Fox News bothered with.

UPDATE:
You'll find a copy of the PJL's letter at
http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PJI_letter_to_FHS_10-1.10.13.pdf

You'll search in vain for specifics though. Who supposedly is making the complaint. What the "harassment" consisted of. It's just a claim that a trans child attending school constitutes an invasion of privacy, and a violation of freedom of speech. Like teaching that the Earth orbits the Sun.

The PJL's letterhead states the chairman of their advisory board is one Edwin Meese Esq. - a name readers might be familiar with.

UPDATE
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-a-shocker-transgender-male-harassing-girls-high-school-bathroom#comment-1083103849

ColoradoKix

• an hour ago

I am a girl at the school and a friend of the girl in question. I have to say that she is awesome!
There are a few problems that the principal isn't mentioning. I think they always like to cover things up?
She has been both physically and verbally threatened by some of the boys. They can be pretty scary. And the girls can say some hateful things. But it's much less than half.
More than anything she just wishes everyone would quit talking about her.

UPDATE:
The Daily Mail story has now been consigned to the bit bucket. Story, what story?
CharismaNews on the other hand is busy scrubbing all links to evidence that the story is bogus, in response to this request:

Andrew

Moderator, remove these links to this trash propaganda, there's no sense in having a Christian magazine giving free advertising to junk science and advocacy for perversion. These people have no sense of shame at all.

2:13 p.m., Tuesday Oct. 15

 Partial transcript of testimony by the school superintendent:

"VENDETTI: "Nothing has actually been verified with us. This is one parent basically bringing their viewpoint about this situation to the media because they weren't getting the responses that they hoped they would get from the district, from parents of students at the high school, or from the board and myself. So I think it's just an attempt to elevate the situation to a point where maybe some more attention can be drawn to that in the hope of having a different outcome. But to our knowledge and based on our investigation, none of those things have actually happened. We do have a transgender student at the high school and she has been using the women's restroom. There has not been a situation."

UPDATE - a comment by the Examiner article's author, posted on the CBN website:

Having the proper "Christian" attitude needs to be revisited by CBN and all of those claiming to be a child of God. Even "Saul" thought he was doing God's work when he persecuted Christians, had them arrested, thrown into prison, and even approved of the killing of Christians. 

Does CBN want to have the same reputation as Westboro Baptist Church? Unfortunately too much Pharisee has been the make-up of many Christians concerning subjects as homosexuality and transgenders. This story picked up by CBN was a disservice to the cause of Christ, a slam against transgenders in general, and a grossly exaggerated innuendo that impacted a transgender teen at Florence High School in Colorado.

I am the Christian perspectives writer for San Jose that picked up the story from CBN whom I was over confident that the story was true, because after all, it was CBN. I set aside fact checking because I put too much emphasis that CBN would have credibility. I was dead wrong, and so was CBN. I posted a retraction but the damage was already done as the story has taken on a life of its own and according to one commentator that took me to task in the comments section, international. 

CBN needs to print a retraction of its transgender story. It is not worth it to continue legitimacy to a lie that could do harm to an innocent teen whose only guilt is being born. Both CBN and myself were deceived and the next task is to confess, ask for forgiveness, and seek redemption as 1 John 1:9 declares. God hates it when false testimony is given and according to Proverbs 6:16-18 we better clean up our acts.

UPDATE - http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/news/education/ci_24317516/transgender-case-under-investigation

Florence-Penrose School District Superintendent Rhonda Vendetti said the district was advised by lawyers not to comment about the specifics of the case because it is under investigation by law enforcement. However, she did release a comment Tuesday to the Daily Record.
"We are committed to providing a fair and equal education to all students at Florence High School," she said.

In view of one student's claim that the trans student has been a victim of cyberstalking -

"As a Christian girl who attends FHS, I'd just like to say that I've never been harassed by this individual not have I ever seen him harass anyone else. He's actually shy and a nice person. Do I think he should be able to use the girls bathroom? I'm torn. He either uses our bathroom and makes MAYBE 30% of the girls uncomfortable, or he uses the boy's restroom and gets beat up. I don't feel uncomfortable by him. Also, there are a lot of holes in this story. No parents initially complained. There was a mass Facebook message that included 150+ students and parents, outing him publicly. It was such a big deal, all electronic devises were confiscated if seen that day. THEN it was a problem and parents complained. This boy wasn't treated fairly. As a Christian, I had to put the truth out there. He didn't hurt or harass anyone."

And another student's claim of the trans girl being a victim of physical violence -

I am a girl at the school and a friend of the girl in question. I have to say that she is awesome!
There are a few problems that the principal isn't mentioning. I think they always like to cover things up?
She has been both physically and verbally threatened by some of the boys. They can be pretty scary. And the girls can say some hateful things. But it's much less than half.
More than anything she just wishes everyone would quit talking about her.

Police involvement is appropriate.

UPDATE Christan Williams is still on the case....
http://www.transadvocate.com/anti-gay-activist-group-admits-trans-school-harassment-is-fake.htm

Today, PJI issued a statement to the TransAdvocate via their apparent mouthpiece, a TERF activist. While the statement still offered no evidence to support the claim that this trans kid is a predator, they finally revealed the nature of the supposed “harassment” endured by the cisgender school kids.

In a statement delivered to the TransAdvocate by attorney Cathy Brennan, the PJI claims that a trans person in the restroom is “inherently intimidating and harassing.” Brennan, vocal critic of  trans equality measures, became somewhat infamous after she outed a trans teen to his parents and school, and recently attempted to intervene in the medical care of a transgender person.

After days of sidestepping any explicit statements about the exact nature of the supposed “harassment,” PJI now asserts that the mere presence of a trans person constitutes harassment and intimidation to cisgender people.

UPDATE:
The PJI has now admitted in a press release that the only "harassment" was the Trans girl using the girls restroom.

They have said in the past that they are trying to corroborate unspecified rumours of actual harassment. The latest press release suggests they've now dropped that and are hurriedly backing down from it. An independent investigation by the police into the truth of those allegations is now underway, something they apparently didn't want.

"The central issue in this case—a high school’s decision to give a biological teenage boy full access to teenage girls’ bathrooms is both disturbing and not seriously disputed". - See more at: http://www.pacificjustice.org/1/post/2013/10/update-colo-school-story-sparks-backlash-by-lgbt-activists.html#sthash.v9DQZeVx.dpuf

Contrast this with their original claim that not only did she use the restroom, but engaged in unspecified sexual harassment rather than just using it:

"This is exactly the kind of horror story we have been warning would accompany the push for radical transgender rights in schools, and it is the type of situation that LGBT activits (sic) have been insisting would not happen.”

UPDATE : KOAA 5 Colorado Springs has a report dated 2 weeks ago (Oct 3):



UPDATE After due consideration, playing my own "Devil's Advocate" here:
There's still much we don't know.
 Is the student Transsexual (as I've assumed) or Transgender/Gender Fluid? Or even Intersex?
What age are they? They've been going to the school for some years, so over 12, but that's about all we do know.
Have they been transitioning under the standards of care (again, an assumption on my part that could be wrong)?
The police are involved now - investigating the allegations about what this student has done, or investigating the threats alleged to have been made against them as well? What about the alleged FB message blast?
We have comments on websites, allegedly from other students. But are they genuine?
Yes, we've shown the PJL's letters "gilded the lilly" at the very least, or were a pack of lies at most - but I know I should be careful not to substitute my own assumptions as fact too. Otherwise how do I differ from the PJL?