Mom says 6-year-old is transgender and she's against the Texas bathroom bill

BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas (FOX 26) - A Houston area woman is watching the Texas special session closely.  She’s hoping the so-called "bathroom bill" won't pass.  The bill Kimberly Shappley is keeping a close eye on, if passed, will regulate public bathroom use and require transgenders to use the restroom corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.

“We've seen segregated bathrooms in America before and we didn't like it,” says Shappley.  The mother of seven has strong feelings about Senate Bill 6.

“I'm hoping the bathroom bill dies there in Austin rather quickly,” Shappley explains.  She says she is now outspoken about LGBT issues.  Shappley's oldest is 29 years old, but it's her 6-year-old child that she says is transgender and should be allowed to use the girls restroom.  Two years ago, at 4 years old, her son Joseph began living as a girl named Kai.

“Kai belongs in the girls restroom.  Kai is a girl.  Her peers see her as a girl.  The only time other students even have a question about her being different is when she's segregated into a different restroom,” says Shappley.

Shappley says she has fought a losing battle to have Kai use the girls restroom at school.  Kai now uses the bathroom in the nurse's office. 

“That's where sick children use the restroom.  Kai isn't sick, and she's not contagious.  She was born transgender,” says Shappley.

“This is a new civil rights movement.  There is an entire community of people that are fighting for their basic human rights,” she adds.