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Transgendered Kid Banning; Beyonce Tickets For Guns; Telecommuting Ended at Yahoo; Odd Questions for Prospective NFL Draftees

Aired February 27, 2013 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin here. For the next 20 minutes, you know the deal by now. We're tackling the hot topics you'll be talking about around the dinner table tonight.

Here is where I want to start, with the first grader, banned from using little girl's room because she was born a he. The 6-year-old Coy Mathis is transgendered. She identifies herself as a female. She's been wearing girls clothes, her parents say she's been this way since she was 18 months old.

And for the first half of this school year, she was using the girl's bathroom at her elementary school. This is in Fountain, Colorado. But in December, school officials gave her parents a letter saying, Coy would not be allowed to use the girl's bathroom when class resumed after winter break.

Students and parents would start to become uncomfortable with Coy using the girl's room. The parents are saying, that's not fair. They have now yanked their daughter out of school. They're filing a complaint under the state's anti-discrimination act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHRYN MATHIS, MOTHER: We have filed the complaint with the school, and we're hoping that, you know, that they will change their minds and they will come back and teach that you can love somebody and you can accept somebody, even if they are different. We just want what is best for Coy. We want her to have the same opportunities as all of our other children, and we want her to be able to go back to school and be treated equally without discrimination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So let's talk about this. Let me bring in our hot topics panel, Amy Palmer, founder of powerwomentv.com, Jack Moore, editor of Buzzfeed Sports, Jennifer Hutt, host of "Just Jenny," and Bomani Jones, contributor for sbnation.com and for this segment, we also wanted to have a doctor on, pediatrician, Dr. Jim Sears joins me.

Welcome, welcome to all of you. Jack Moore, I want to begin with you here. Keep in mind, let me be entirely transparent, even though the school apparently said that Coy can't use the girls room, she can use the nurse's room, she can use the faculty bathroom, she can use the boy's restroom. Jack Moore, how do you think this school fared in this one, bad call, good call?

JACK MOORE, EDITOR, BUZZFEED SPORTS: This is a terrible call. I just -- let her use the bathroom she wants to use. She's a transgendered little girl. How many times do we have to see these small town schools fall on the wrong side of history with these things.

If you're given the choice in life between showing compassion for a little girl, who is struggling with something that is intense and personal, and being outraged about the potential issues with that, show compassion, that's the easy answer.

BALDWIN: Bomani, what do you think?

BOMANI JONES, CONTRIBUTOR, SBNATION.COM: Well, I thought it was surprising that they said that other students would have a problem with it, like it didn't have a problem already. They didn't have a problem now. I don't see why the school would necessarily need to do something. But I also think we need to be fair.

There is one place in this society that we have had no problem with segregation and you rarely hear arguments about it and that's the bathroom. That's the one place we have said, these people go here, these people go there.

When you start talking about transgender stuff, it gets hazy, people not understanding what is going on and it leads to decisions like these, because no matter what, somebody is going to wind up uncomfortable.

BALDWIN: Let me read something. This is the attorney. He is representing the school district taking into account not only Coy, but the other students in the parents, the future impact. A boy with male genitals using a girl's bathroom would have as Coy grew older. Jennifer, what do you think?

JENNIFER HUTT, HOST, "JUST JENNY": Yes. This is ridiculous. I'll tell you why. In women's bathrooms there are no urinals. So the argument about the boys' genitalia, come on. Furthermore, I think if this kid, what I read, has been issued a federally issued passport that states she's a girl, that should trump the law at state level and this little girl should be able to use the girl's bathroom.

BALDWIN: That's correct. Her I.D. card also identifies her as a girl. But let's just say, let's take the family out of it. If you're a parent of other little girls at this school, and you see Coy coming and going out of this bathroom, how do you explain to your children who come to you and say, mommy, why is a little boy going to the bathroom with me?

HUTT: Well, how would I explain it?

BALDWIN: Yes. I'm looking at the other side.

HUTT: But she's not a boy. BALDWIN: Dr. Sears, how would you explain that?

DR. JIM SEARS, CO-HOST, "THE DOCTORS": I'm actually -- I have three kids, a daughter and two boys, and as when my daughter was that age, I would have been very uncomfortable if there was a boy with a penis walking around their bathroom.

You say the stalls are private. At that age, most boys especially will use the bathroom and leave their pants down while they walk to the sink to wash their hands and then pull it up. So it is going to be very uncomfortable for the other girls.

HUTT: She's a girl.

AMY PALMER, FOUNDER, POWERWOMENTV.COM: Look at the damage it is doing to the young girl. Look at the damage it is doing to coy. Why are we doing this in the middle of the school year? Shouldn't this have been addressed in September? Get the summer to get everybody ready.

HUTT: She's a little girl. If she identifies herself as a little girl and is a little girl, she's not walking around with her pants down because that wouldn't be typical little girl behavior. She's a girl.

BALDWIN: Hang on, everyone. Here is my second question this came up in our morning meeting, all over the place on this one, the fact that according to the parents, she started identifying as a she and not a he 18 months of age. Dr. Sears, have you heard of that before? Is that -- a lot of kids love trucks and tutus. My poor brother I might have put a tutu on him. You know, is that too young?

SEARS: Typically at that age, kids know the difference that, you know, trucks are boy toys, dolls are girl toys, but they like to play with both and they don't really show a huge preference. That strong preference usually doesn't kick in until age 4 or 5 even where the boy will absolutely not wear a shirt if it has a pink stripe in it.

So to see this strong of a feeling that early is certainly not typical, but, you know, reading about this child, she has very strong feelings and I think actually very mature feelings about this.

When she was 4 years old, she asked her parents to take her to the doctor to fix her body. So certainly she has a very strong identity as a girl. The problem is, she has the biology of a boy and that's why we're here talking about it.

BALDWIN: What about as we're seeing more and more of these cases coming to light, this is the first in the state of Colorado there are policies, for example, and a state such as New York, how should we handle this nationwide, as transgender issues are popping up increasingly?

MOORE: Taking care of groups that will be ostracized. It is better to take care of people and show compassion to people, especially children. The idea that Coy is going to walk around with her parents around the ground because she has a penis is insane. This isn't a little girl playing dressup. Getting a passport listed as a female is not something you do overnight. That's a difficult thing to do and she was able to do it.

BALDWIN: She's not in school now and she's being home schooled. We'll see where this goes. It's the first as I said in Colorado. I'll leave this. I have a couple of other topics I want to get to.

Meantime, Dr. Sears, thank you so much for joining me on this segment. You can watch Dr. Sears week days on "The Doctors." The rest of you all, stick around because coming up next, not exactly your average gun buyback plan, you could say.

My panel takes on this new proposal. This is in New York, to swap firearms for Beyonce tickets. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: How about this one for a gun buyback program? Give up your gun, get a ticket to a Beyonce concert. The "New York Daily News" is reporting that music mogul Michael Williams is proposing New York's first private sector buyback program and it has a name.

This is "Guns for Greatness." And he's hoping tickets to see Beyonce and we all know it is not all cheap to see her, in August, will be enough incentive to get guns off the streets.

The program still has to get approval from New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. But it is getting positive responses here from Brooklyn's District Attorney Charles Hines. Panel back in. Amy Palmer, I want to hear from you. What do you make of this, Beyonce ticketing guns?

PALMER: I think it is brilliant. I think that this mogul knows his audience. He knows that they want to see Beyonce. He knows there is an incentive. Here is the genius part about it. He's going to get these kids mentors.

So these kids will be around people that they have never had access to before who will help them learn other skill sets. That's why it's brilliant. Beyonce is just the hook. Beyonce is just the story, but really it is about mentorship and getting those guns off the street.

BALDWIN: So Bomani, have we really come to this now where we can't just offer cash, we're offering Beyonce tickets?

JONES: Well, I guess you could offer cash, but nobody is willing to do that.

BALDWIN: That's what everyone has been doing. We have been looking at other creative ways, cash, cash and more cash.

JONES: Well, people have done it with playoff tickets in the NBA. I remember them maybe about 15 years ago in Atlanta. But I think the better question is, in the more interesting part is, you're willing to part with your gun over Beyonce tickets, why in the world did you have the gun in the first place? This is what this illustrates. People willing to give up guns for something like going to a concert, you can't feel that unsafe in your home you feel like you need a gun. Beyonce will not keep the burglars away.

BALDWIN: I want to move on. We talked about this Monday, this is has not gone away. Yahoo!'s CEO Marissa Mayer, her new policy banning employees from working at home, she says no telecommuting, sparking huge debate across Silicon Valley, across the offices in the whole country, about this role telecommuting has in the modern workplace.

The new peg, if you will, Yahoo! put out this new statement, acknowledging this uproar. Here is what they are saying. We don't discuss internal matters. This isn't a broad industry view on working from home. This is about what is right for Yahoo! right now.

Jenny Hutt, I read your opinions on this one. You are calling Mayer a hypocrite, why?

HUTT: Well, listen, I heard that she built a nursery right next to her office inside Yahoo! so that's kind of hypocritical. I don't know her. I would love to be able to do that when I'm at work to have my almost teenager and teenager with me everywhere.

But if I was not able to work from home, some of the time that would really be devastating on my family life and on my work life because I would be worrying so much about what was going on with my family life. I think it is a step back. It is a step back for women.

BALDWIN: Who disagrees?

MOORE: I think it is --

PALMER: I do not disagree.

MOORE: I think it is a little overblown. I understand the concern about balancing work and home. It is a very legitimate concern. And it is dumb of Yahoo! in many ways, not the least of which is that research shows that productivity is actually increased in the workplace, with telecommuting. So it seems like a dumb decision from a business standpoint. It also rings somewhat -- I don't want to say false, but it rings a little -- I don't know, but people --

BALDWIN: You almost said arrogant.

MOORE: I almost said arrogant, but it's not arrogant, people would kill to go to an office right now. There is so much unemployment.

BALDWIN: You're saying perspective.

PALMER: The issue is --

HUTT: It is bait and switch.

PALMER: She's representing the new woman. She's representing women who are saying, I can be the CEO. I can have a family, and what she's done is saying, actually, you can't. You're not going to be able to telecommute. You're not going to be able to make this work for you because I'm going back to the old way. And that's what this uproar is about.

BALDWIN: Perhaps she's also saying that she was frustrated, that, you know, late in the morning, too few cars were showing up and closer to 5:00, you know, more people were leaving. She was frustrated, maybe Yahoo! needs better productivity, and she's just thinking, less productive, you know, let's just run you off and I'll get more higher -- go ahead.

HUTT: When I worked from home, I ended up getting more done and working more hours. I do everything.

BALDWIN: Do you?

HUTT: Yes.

JONES: But the CEO of Yahoo! said this isn't about women individuals, this is about the corporation, and I've telecommuted for the better part of my working life, but I won't pretend as though there isn't --

HUTT: That's not the message. It is about women and families and making it work for families that there are dual incomes.

JONES: That is a message. Let's not pretend there isn't something that gets lost when people are so separate in terms of their identity and the office.

HUTT: What about --

JONES: OK, but that doesn't mean that every other point gets discounted completely. From what she's saying, there is some credence to the idea --

BALDWIN: This is what Steve Jobs did in Cupertino with Apple. Let me read two other voices, prominent voices here in this kind of community. Richard Branson, critic of this idea. Quote, "We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently whether at their desk or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out of an office and never will."

In the meantime, Mr. Trump, Donald Trump, here's his tweet. "Marissa Mayer is right to expect Yahoo! employees to come to the workplace versus working at home. She is doing a great job."

PALMER: It is an old school way of thinking versus an entrepreneur. I mean, literally the new way of working is the entrepreneur way. People have had to invent jobs. They invent jobs in Starbucks. They invent jobs in their apartments. Marisa Mayer is setting women back. This is a large message. It is not directed at women, but that's why the uproar.

BALDWIN: Last word and then agree to disagree and move on. Bomani, last word, go. JONES: All the points about the message may be correct, but to pretend there were no values in old ways of doing things and that everything modern is necessarily better I think is a fallacy.

BALDWIN: All right, next, gay or straight. McDonald's or Burger King, pillow or blanket, these are some of the weird questions executives are asking these NFL draft prospects but why? And are some of the questions OK? Our panel tackling those questions next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A 40-yard dash, vertical leap, a couple of the skills the scouts are looking for at the NFL combine going on there week in Indianapolis. But apparently scouts also want to know a little bit more than how many times a player can bench press 225 pounds.

I want you to listen to what one prospect told ESPN radio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK KASA, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO NFL PROSPECT (via telephone): They ask you, like, a girlfriend, married, do you like girls, those kinds of things and just kind of weird, but, you know, they would ask you with a straight face and it is pretty weird, weird experience altogether.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Weird, he says. Do you hear that? NFL hopefuls saying he was asked by a scout if he likes the ladies. The league told Yahoo! Sports it has no direct policy on the line of questioning teams can use, only that they adhere to employment laws. Still, is sexual preference now as relevant as a stat, like touchdowns, interceptions? Jack Moore, I want you to start here. What is your reaction?

MOORE: This is so insane.

BALDWIN: Insane?

MOORE: It shows a total disconnect between the sports world and the rest of the world. The rest of the world is finally coming along on gay rights and the sports world is still stuck years before the Te'O situation, the first question was, obviously, like, is he gay?

The big Katie Couric moment, are you gay? And the question is not even the problem. The problem is if the answer was yes, is that that big of a problem. It shows more than ever we need some major pro athlete to come out of the closet at the height -- like while they're in the league. We can't keep waiting for guys --

BALDWIN: Not afterwards.

MOORE: We need a Jackie Robinson of this cause because we need an example to show that, yes, I can still play at the same high level and I don't want to -- BALDWIN: I talked to Wade Davis recently. It is interesting you bring up Manti Te'O, which according to Mike Florio. He's saying that's the elephant in the room. That's why these scouts are asking. You know, are you gay or are you not? I'm not they're asking in that way. Listen to the sound. This is Mike Florio talking about Manti Te'O and this whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE FLORIO, PROFOOTBALLTALK.COM: Here's the elephant in the room for the teams. And it shouldn't matter, but we have to step aside from the rest of reality and walk into the industry, the unique industry that is the NFL. Teams want to know whether or not Manti Te'O is gay. They just want to know. They want to know because in an NFL locker room, it is a different world, it shouldn't be that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Bomani Jones, here is my question. I was thinking, is there a double standard? A lot of this took shape after 49er player Chris Culver made anti-gay remarks. I don't do guys in the locker room. Something to that effect made news. He apologized. NFL said, you're going to take, you know, mandatory tolerance training at the same time, now we're hearing about scouts asking do you like girls? What is the deal?

JONES: There is a couple of things. There is a couple of things. One in the Combine interviews they ask whatever they want to because they can it is the unmitigated arrogance of the NFL and the players have to put up with that stuff. That's the reason why they ask.

But when you start talking about sexuality, NFL security probably has a good idea one way or another. They don't have to ask to find out. Once they find out the answer, that has nothing to do with how the locker room is going to receive this, it is not as if those guys if they believe such a thing or they go to the team.

And the team says, he told us he wasn't gay, he's not gay, those decisions and those interactions will be done by themselves. The problem with the NFL is that it appears that rather than to challenge what is discriminatory and what is obvious, their decision is, we're going to keep somebody out of it because it would cause us too much stress.

BALDWIN: It is a bigger picture question too in terms of being gay as Jack brought up, being openly gay while playing football or any other sport. I talked to Wade Davis, he came out last year, after he retired from playing, here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Why didn't you come out while you were playing?

WADE DAVIS, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I didn't come out because I grew up with the ideology that I could never be a gay athlete from the time I was 7 years old playing a game of football, I always thought that my sexuality and the game of football didn't mix. So I'm just trying now to teach people that you can be who you want to be and play any sport or do any career.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Jenny Hutt, you get the last word.

HUTT: Listen, when Jack said before about gay rights have to come farther, it is just rights. We're all the same whether straight, whether gay. I mean, everyone needs to grow up already.

BALDWIN: Grow up already. Let's end on that. Amy Palmer, Jack Moore, Jenny Hutt, Bomani Jones, thanks, guys, appreciate it.

The Dow now, as we're watching very closely, 14,068. Remember the all time high? Not too far off, 14,164 could be a huge day. What it means for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Washington, check out this scene. That's all your leaders together. When they're not together --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass --

SENATOR HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: I think he should understand who is sitting on their posterior.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Republicans in Congress right now who refuse to compromise even an inch --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Yes. And the clock is ticking on this so-called crisis they created. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.