A 9-year-old transgender girl from Texas is playing a transgender character in a new Netflix series—a reboot of the 1990s show The Baby-Sitters Club—that debuted earlier this month.
The child was born male and named Joseph. At just 5 years old, the young Texas native’s parents insisted their child was actually a transgender girl and should be allowed to use the girls’ bathroom. Joseph now identifies as a female and goes by the name Kai Shappley.
To know The Baby-Sitter’s Club is to love BSC — but even for the most casual fans, the book covers are iconic.
That’s why the team behind Netflix’s The Baby-Sitter’s Club worked a few of them into the series.
For example, Episode 1 features an homage to “Kristy’s Great Idea” pic.twitter.com/lAcoKUBtDk
— Netflix (@netflix) July 8, 2020
Shappley’s parents drew attention in 2016, when they got into a legal spat with the Pearland Independent School District, whose officials told the Shappleys their child would need to use the boys’ bathroom, the facilities that matched their child’s biological sex, KRIV-TV reported.
While authorities with the Pearland ISD did offer Kai use of the gender-neutral restroom, that was not satisfactory to the Shappleys. Ultimately, the family moved closer to Austin, where the parents believed Kai’s desire to use the girls’ bathroom was more likely to be approved.
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