24 Comments
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Human.'s avatar

As a teacher in Texas, I applaud your bravery. It makes me furious that TX is non-inclusive of anyone perceived as different, but I will continue to love and defend my students. 🫶🏽

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a teacher in Texas right now. Thank you so much for what you do. I don’t think we will ever be able to truly quantify the value of our teachers and the influence they can have in our lives. To me, it is a sacred calling, and I am so grateful to anyone who does it with heart and honor. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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BJ's avatar

Well said, thank you, Eric. I remember the first time someone spoke to me in an informed, respecting, and compassionate way about me being intersex. It shed an entirely new light on my self-understanding. Each of us is a gift to the world at this time and place - and you and I have a role that is different from males and females (ie, it doesn't include being biological parents). It's a gift to be in this moment with you. If there's a school in my region that needs me to lend my voice as someone born not M/F, I'll be as courageous.

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

This is a balm to read. Thank you for all the wisdom and encouragement you share. If you’d like, feel free to PM me with your location and I can possibly help set something up.

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Lolli Goes Left's avatar

Thank you for your bravery and your persistence and your existence! You are beautiful just the way you are and I will always advocate for you and all people who are uniquely created and at the mercy of this ignorant and bigoted administration!

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

Thank you, Terri!

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Amy's avatar
Feb 22Edited

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I have been teaching for decades. I would rather get fired than lie to or neglect one of my students. They are our kids….I believe there are many other teachers who would agree. Kudos to your teacher!

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

Thank you, Amy! Human language fails to truly express the value, power, influence, dignity, sacrifice, honor, and heart of teachers. I believe people like you save lives. I’m so grateful for you, and I hope you are encouraged every day by others who stand by you.

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Amy's avatar

Thank you for those very kind thoughts. Please be safe right now, fight like hell for humanity, but be safe. Your wise teacher would insist upon it. And I hope you have let her know how she helped you. Knowing these things makes all the time and sacrifices well worth it. One of my favorite parts of teaching is hearing from my old students and finding out where they are. I’m guessing yours would be so proud. 😊

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

Thank you! In 2003 I went back to my little hometown to find her and take her out to dinner. We are still in touch to this day, and she’s been supportive through all of this! She absolutely knows that she’s my hero. ❤️

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Amy's avatar

That truly warms my heart for both of you. I really wanted to close all my meta accounts, but I just couldn’t delete fb because that’s where I see how my old students are. That’s just too precious to give up. I wish you only peace and joy in life! You sound like a spectacular human being.

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Sophie Nicholls's avatar

Love you so much, my dear friend. 💜💜💜

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Robby Darling's avatar

Thank you so much for standing up for the reality & truth of the matter. I wrote an article to try and simplify this topic to people that have no historical context for the reality of intersex people. I am so sorry you had to go through what you went through, I was in school during the 90's and early 00's and while things were heading in the right direction, there was still a lot of work to do. I hope you like my article and I'm sorry if I've shared it already... https://open.substack.com/pub/robbydarling/p/i-have-a-seam-that-goes-down-my-nuttsack?r=12wdb2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

Thank you, Robbie! And thank you for sharing your own experience to help educate others!

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Anni Ponder's avatar

💖💖💖! Especially grateful for the teacher who was a light on your path. And now you are teaching teachers…there’s no telling how many lives you will lift up!

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Diana Robbins's avatar

Thank you Eric! I feel privileged to read about your experience, and so appreciate that you shared it here.

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Scott F Kiesling's avatar

Thank you for this powerful but simple statement!

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Mary Lanese's avatar

I love you my brave friend.

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

💜💛💜

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Jacqueline England🎨's avatar

Beautiful. Thank you Eric.

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Meg Smythe's avatar

So clear and informative. Thank you for sharing your experience so eloquently.

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Kylie's avatar

Beautiful, Eric - thank you so much for sharing this.

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Dodo B Bird's avatar

Does anyone know how often "intersex" babies are born ?

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Eric K. Carr's avatar

The most accepted number is about 1.7 percent. It’s about as common as red hair or green eyes. A minority of medical specialist out it at closer to 1.2 percent because they leave out certain variations or conditions. And then there is an anti-trans group that claims it is only .018 percent, which is patently and probably untrue. But I’d argue that even if it was true, it still disproves the male/female binary myth. Even at the absolute lowest number, which nobody really believes is true, that’s still almost 2 million intersex people in the world. At the almost universally accepted rate of 1.7 percent, that puts the global intersex population at 140 million! We are definitely not rare.

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