Transgender Bathroom Use Won't Change in Anne Arundel Schools

ANNAPOLIS, MD — No changes will be made to transgender bathroom usage in Anne Arundel County Public Schools in the wake of President Donald Trump's revocation of a measure that urged public schools to allow transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice. In May 2016, the Obama administrative issued a guidance letter to schools across the nation which said that all students should be allowed to use restrooms which were consistent with their gender identity under the federal Title IX protections.

On Wednesday, President Trump announced his decision to repeal Obama’s guidance letter. The issue has already found its way to the courts, with students in Maryland and Virginia among those filing lawsuits last year to gain access to use of the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools have followed the Obama administration's guidelines on transgender restroom and locker room use, and school leaders said Thursday there is no plan to change the policy. School board president Stacy Korbelak said the board will wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a transgender student's lawsuit before taking up the issue.

School communications officer Bob Mosier said the guidelines were based on state guidelines that require schools to treat students equally. "There's no reason for us to change anything," Mosier told the Capital-Gazette.

The school board's decision in 2016 sparked outrage from County Executive Steve Schuh, a Republican, who said the action by the county schools was taken without input from residents.

Mosier said in September 2016, "This is simply hollow rhetoric and more evidence that in our quest to elevate all students and eliminate all gaps, the county executive simply doesn't believe that all means all. He would rather segregate than support all of our students.

"While he is quick to launch more misguided political fear-mongering and ignore our legal, moral, and ethical obligations to all of our children, he has engaged in no substantive conversations with our school system about this issue," Mosier added. "The irony, as evidenced by our Student Council president's public testimony recently, is that our children understand this issue entirely. It's a real shame the county executive doesn't."

The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education jointly sent letters to every public school district in the country in May 2016 outlining guidelines for the accommodation of transgender students. The letters came as several states, including North Carolina, passed so-called "bathroom laws," some requiring that students use only the restroom consistent with their birth sex. Other laws have opened bathroom usage for individuals based on their gender identity.

Schuh denounced the "drastic policy change" in a letter sent to Republican elected officials and clubs, and called the guidelines "unnecessary and extreme," reports The Capital-Gazette. Last fall, Schuh asked the Anne Arundel Board of Education to rescind the policies — a term school officials dispute — and to require that students play on sports teams and use facilities that reflect the gender they were born with.

Mosier said Schuh knows his statements are not true. The board has adopted no policy regarding transgender students, though its policy on non-discrimination does contain protections regarding gender identity. The school system has a set of guidelines developed over several years through guidance from the federal and state levels and input from a variety of groups, including students. Those guidelines can be found here.

Korbelak responded that the school system followed federal and state Department of Education guidelines and will not ask administrators to rescind the measures, she told the newspaper.

The schools have no transgender policy, Mosier said. Board-adopted policies have at least three public readings at board meetings, as well as a vetting by the board’s policy committee before a vote by board members. Public input will be taken if the school board crafts a policy, he said.

Even as some state bans on transgender bathroom usage have been taken to court, students have also filed federal lawsuits in several states taking on the bans. The plaintiffs say that forbidding transgender students from using the facilities of the gender they identify with is a violation of Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in public schools.

One such lawsuit was filed in July 2016 by a 14-year-old from Talbot County, Maryland, who claims he was barred from using the boys’ locker room at St. Michaels Middle School. Instead the student used a unisex restroom to change for physical education, which made him late for class, and stigmatized him, the student’s attorney told The Washington Post.

The U.S. Supreme Court may consider the lawsuit of a Virginia transgender student who is seeking legal permission to use the bathroom that matches his gender identity. Gavin Grimm identifies as a boy, but the Gloucester County School Board would require him to use the girls’ bathroom due to his "biological gender."

In the most high-profile bathroom bill case, North Carolina and the Department of Justice have filed lawsuits against each other over the state's new law that restricts bathroom and locker room usage for transgender people.

Image credit: Scott Beale via Flickr / Creative Commons