PEARLAND, Texas – A Pearland mom went before the city's school board Tuesday night to fight for her transgender daughter's right to use the girls' bathroom when she starts kindergarten.
Five-year-old Kai was born male, but has lived publicly as a little girl for the last two years.
"Please understand I'm not fighting about bathrooms, I'm fighting about her life, I'm fighting about her well-being, I'm fighting for her happiness, I'm fighting for her future," Kai's mother, Kim Shappley said.
Shappley says during a meeting at the end of last school year Pearland Independent School District leaders told her Kai would have to use the boys' restroom.
"Every person that has a degree who has studied this says that it is wrong to tell my child for anyone to tell my child that she cannot use the facility that aligns with the gender she identifies with," Shappley told the school board.
Shappley had a lot of support in the audience during the meeting, but not everyone agreed with her stance.
"I'm for Kai, I'm for her, but I'm also for our district and I'm for what's put in place," a parent, Rick Torrison, said.
The district sent out a statement that read, "Pearland ISD's stance on transgender students remains children whose parents declare them transgender must go to the bathroom for the sex indicated on their birth certificate. Such students have also been allowed to use a private bathroom (such as in the nurse's station) if they are so inclined. All Pearland ISD kindergarten classrooms have a private, gender-neutral bathroom within the classroom for student use."