Public Input on Transgender Student Access in Schools Debated (Update)

Updated at 10:45 p.m. Wednesday ANNAPOLIS, MD — A move by Anne Arundel County Public Schools to follow federal guidelines that say schools should allow transgender students to use the restroom and locker room facilities for the gender they identify with has sparked outrage from County Executive Steve Schuh.

Schuh, a Republican, says the action by the county schools was taken without input from residents — whom he urged to turn up and speak out at upcoming board meetings — while school officials say they are following the directives of the Obama administration. A letter in mid-May from the White House to the nation’s school systems implied federal education money could be yanked from public schools that fail to accommodate the needs of transgender students.

The chief communications officer for the school system, Bob Mosier, said, "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 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 month 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.

"We need to make our voices heard," Schuh wrote to GOP supporters. "I am asking everyone stand with us as we fight to make certain everyone gets a say in our children's education."

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.

School board president Stacy 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 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."

The two federal agencies said the letter sent nationwide this spring was intended to give school districts the information they need to "ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex," according to a joint news release from the education and justice departments.

"Schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student’s sex, including a student’s transgender status. The guidance makes clear that both federal agencies treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX."

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.

See Also

• White House Letter to Schools on Transgender Students: What to Know

In May, the Obama administration directed the nation’s public schools to accommodate transgender students by allowing them to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities. The guidance sparked an immediate backlash: 21 states have sued to overturn it, alleging an overreach by the administration.

A May CNN/ORC national poll found 57 percent of Americans don’t agree with bathroom bills that restrict where transgender people can use the bathroom, compared with 38 percent who do. The results reflected party differences, with 62 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of independents and 48 percent of Republicans opposing bathroom bills.

A poll in late May by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News showed 40 percent of those surveyed say transgender people should be allowed to use the public restroom corresponding to the gender with which they identify, compared to 31 percent who say transgender people should be legally barred from doing so and 29 percent who expressed no opinion.

Image credit: Scott Beale via Flickr / Creative Commons