Weekend Read: “You people who’ve got gay children, don’t mess up like I did”.

William Nathan Mathis, whose daughter committed suicide in 1995, protested at a campaign rally for the Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama on Monday night.CreditJonathan Bachman/Reuters

“Half-baked maggot.” “If he wants to be a female, make him a female. A good sharp knife will do the job really quick.”

That’s what adults in Oklahoma had to say this week about a transgender middle schooler named Maddie who used the girls’ bathroom during her first week at Achille Public Schools. She is 12 years old.