Sadly, we've become accustomed to the divisiveness that grips many of our communities these days. Still, we've taken some solace that most of us share a belief that we should love and protect our vulnerable kids.
That's why we're so disappointed in the shameful controversy that has erupted in a small southern Oklahoma school district around 12-year-old Maddie. Born a boy but living as a girl for the last two years, she mistakenly used the girls' bathroom one time on a new campus at the start of this school year.
That innocent act of a seventh-grader made her the target of some of the most vicious and disgusting social media threats on a private Facebook group for district parents that we've ever seen _ and we've seen a lot.
They were reportedly so bad that Maddie's mother, Brandy Rose, feared for her daughter's safety and obtained a protective order against one of the parents who made an online threat. Officials at the Achille Independent School District had to shut down school for two days over safety concerns.
Let us point out that the threats were from adults threatening a middle-schooler and inciting her classmates to do harm to her. What happened to common sense and compassion?
We realize that society's understanding of transgender issues is still evolving for school districts, organizations and even parents of transgender children. As this newspaper has said, when a child presents herself in a way that is in conflict with her birth gender and outward anatomy, there will be questions that don't have immediate or easy answers.
But we don't have to understand all the issues to show a sense of decency toward another human being.
It could be a matter of life and death for transgender kids, who advocates say routinely deal with bullying, threats and violence. In fact, a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report revealed that 29 percent of gay, lesbian and bisexual Oklahoma high-schoolers (28 percent in Texas ) said they attempted suicide in the last year. About 48 percent in Oklahoma and 28 percent in Texas said they'd been bullied.
In Maddie's case, it's worth noting that the leader of the Oklahoma district says there haven't been any problems in two years. He said some of the adults making threats weren't even Achille parents.
In other words, this district _ like many other institutions _ had figured out a way to handle its complex situation in a fair, compassionate and graceful way. Arrangements had been made for Maddie to use the staff bathroom.
Until this ugly episode, when adults resorted to crude name-calling, ridicule and death threats against an innocent child.
We suspect this will be far from the last difficult situation involving gender identity for an area school district to work through. When they arise, grownups need to remember that kids take their cues from them. We urge them to set a better example and show a little kindness.
