Episode 26: Harry Shelton Testifies

“Hear ye! Hear ye! All rise,” Deputy Martínez intoned as all stood within the courtroom. “The Fifth District Court in and for our great Commonwealth, the Honorable Jordan Connor presiding. God save this state and this honorable court. The case of the State versus Michael Philip Andrews. All those with business before this court draw near; you will be heard.”

The judge walked into the courtroom and took his seat at the bench.

“Is the defense ready?”

Senator Travis and Dr. Andrews stood. “We are, your honor,” the senator replied.

“The state?”

The district attorney and Senator Castillo rose. “We’re ready, your honor.”

“You may call your first witness, Professor Travis.”

“The defense calls Harry Shelton,” the senator declared.

A young man approached the witness chair and was sworn in by the judge.

“Your name is Harry Shelton?” Senator Travis asked.

“Yes, sir,” the boy replied.

“Did you attend County Central High this past school year?”

“I did, sir.”

“Did you have Dr. Andrews as your teacher?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What did he teach you?”

“It was an AP Biology class.”

“Which period?”

“First period.”

“What can you tell us about Dr. Andrews’s class?”

“Well,” Harry looked up in recollection, “there was this big BANG, and the door smashed in, and the glass broke, and SWAT guys in black uniforms ran in, and someone screamed, and some students fell out of their desks trying to scramble out of the way, and the SWAT guys grabbed Dr. Andrews, and they bent him over the desk and handcuffed him, and then they marched Dr. Andrews back out crunching over all the broken glass!”

“Yes,” Senator Travis acknowledged, “I imagine it must have been very memorable seeing your teacher arrested like that. But do you remember what he was teaching BEFORE the SWAT team burst into your classroom and arrested him?”

“He was teaching about the biology of sex,” Harry explained. “About how females have identical sex chromosomes, XX, and males have different sex chromosomes, XY.”

“Were YOU aware of the biological differences between boys and girls before Dr. Andrews taught you about it?”

“I’ve known all that stuff, like, since forever,” Harry affirmed.

The judge rapped his gavel at the laughter that erupted in his courtroom. “Order.”

“You go straight to the head of the class, Harry,” Senator Travis smiled. “Now, did Dr. Andrews insist that sexual identity was strictly binary and either male or female?”

“He talked about intersex people – people with different combinations of chromosomes, other than XX or XY,” Harry added. “Dr. Andrews talked about how hormones could influence secondary sexual characteristics to make you more or less feminine or masculine, and that they had side effects.”

“Have you noticed any depression or suicidal ideation growing out of your exposure to Dr. Andrews’s teaching?” Senator Travis asked.

“Objection!” Senator Castillo rose. “Argumentative.”

“Sustained,” the judge confirmed.

“Well, then,” Senator Travis rephrased his question, “do you feel insufficiently… ‘affirmed’ by Dr. Andrews? Or, have any other problems with him or with his teaching?”

“No, sir.” Harry confirmed. “He was a fine teacher. Pretty demanding, but he got us ready for the AP Biology test, and we may be getting some college credit, too, thanks to him.”

“Did Dr. Andrews ever tell any of his students that their gender identity was… wrong?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, what about the incident we heard about yesterday,” Senator Travis asked, “with the student who identifies as a boy named, ‘Sue?’”

“She asked him ‘what if my chromosomes say I’m XX, but in my heart, I feel like a male. Am I still female?’” Harry explained. “Dr. Andrews said, ‘from the perspective of biological science, yes.’”

“Harry, did you interpret that as Sue identifying herself as a boy?”

“No, sir,” Harry replied. “I thought it was a hypothetical question. I didn’t think Sue was… was coming out as transgender to the rest of the class or anything like that.”

“Did YOU interpret what happened as Dr. Andrews denying Sue’s gender identity?”

“No, sir.”

“So, do you think Dr. Andrews has done anything he needs to apologize for?”

“No, sir.”

“You’ve done a great job here today, helping us shed light on this matter, Harry. I have one final question for you. Can you tell me what is a woman?”

Harry looked up a moment in thought before answering, “A woman is… an adult female human… with XX chromosomes… usually capable of bearing and nursing children at some point in her life… and also with sexual characteristics that include breasts and a vagina and…”

“I think that’s sufficient, Harry, thanks,” Senator Travis cut him off.

“No further questions,” Senator Travis concluded. “Your witness.”

“Harry,” Senator Castillo rose, “you appear to be a very polite, respectful, and well-behaved young man.”

There was a long pause as Harry tried to figure out if that was a question. Finally, he replied, “thank you, ma’am?”

“Now Harry,” Senator Castillo flashed a brilliant smile at him, “do you ever deliberately set out to hurt someone’s feelings and make them feel bad?”

Harry thought about that a moment before replying, “no, ma’am.”

“But if you accidentally hurt someone’s feelings,” Senator Castillo pointed out, “wouldn’t you feel bad about it?”

“I suppose I would,” Harry acknowledged, “if I’d actually done something wrong,” he quickly qualified his answer.

“Suppose it was something you didn’t know was wrong,” Senator Castillo asked. “You inadvertently gave cause for offense?”

“Something I didn’t know at the time, you mean? If I figure out I made a mistake,” Harry replied, “sure, I’d own up to it and apologize.”

“Thank you, Harry,” no further questions.

“A follow-up question or two, if it please the court?” Senator Travis rose.

“Go ahead, Professor,” the judge acknowledged.

“What if someone demanded that you apologize for something you did,” Senator Travis asked, “but you were confident you did the right thing, and you didn’t think you did anything wrong? Would you apologize and admit to a mistake, even though you were confident you hadn’t made a mistake?”

“No,” Harry answered. “I wouldn’t apologize unless I thought I had something to apologize for.”

“No further questions,” Senator Travis sat down.

The judge glanced over at Senator Castillo who shook her head no.

“You may step down, son,” the judge told Harry. “Your next witness, Professor?”

“The defense calls Lorenzo Amato.”

Senator Castillo rose. “I understand the defense has additional witnesses whose testimony would be substantially the same. Might we read their names into the record and stipulate to that fact?”

“Professor?” the judge asked.

“No objection,” he agreed, handing a list to the court reporter. “Lorenzo and these other students would testify to substantially the same account as Harry.”