brushfire"This, yes, this, it was always like this." -Stanley Koehler
REFLECTIONS OF AN EMPTY NESTER
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Last May, the Obama administration issued a letter allowing transgender students in public schools to use the bathroom according to their gender identity. In February, the U.S. Justice and Education departments under the Trump administration rescinded that directive.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos called Obama's letter a “one-size-fits-all approach” to an issue best left to local and personal control. While this may be true with academic standards and the curriculum, when it comes to a civil right, one size does in fact fit all. The original directive asserted that students, in accordance with the Education Amendments of 1972, or Title IX, should not be discriminated against on the basis of their sex. In other words, every student has a fundamental right to equal access to a public space such as a restroom. A transgender-only bathroom is not the solution; separate but equal has not been the law of the land since Brown v. Board of Education of 1954. Nor should transgender students be forced to use a bathroom according to their gender at birth. To do so is to deny their very right to exist as transgender. Politicians have painted a picture of innocent young girls alone in public restrooms at the mercy of predatory men — or, in the case of schools, predatory boys. What they fail to understand is that transgender students actually look and act like the gender they identify with. When lawmakers refuse to allow a student to use the restroom corresponding with that gender, they are, in fact, creating the very situation they claim they want to avoid. Perhaps they don't understand what transgender means. Perhaps they prefer that Stephen, who looks and acts and dresses like a boy, has to share a restroom with girls whenever nature calls simply because he was named Stephanie at birth or that Danielle, once Daniel, is forced to walk in her heels and skirt past boys at the urinals whenever she goes into a private stall to relieve herself at school. Even President Trump acknowledged Caitlyn Jenner — arguably the best-known transgender person in the country — should be allowed to choose the bathroom of her choice when visiting Trump Tower. One concern is that allowing transgender people to use bathrooms based on gender identity will open the door for sexual predators to impersonate the opposite sex to gain access to victims in public restrooms. There are no statistics to support this in the more than a dozen states in which anti-discrimination laws are already in place. Nor would barring transgender individuals from the bathroom of their choice prevent sexual predators from preying on same-sex victims. If anyone is likely to be a victim of sexual violence, it’s the transgender individuals themselves. According to the Office for Victims of Crime, a program within the Department of Justice, one in two transgender individuals is sexually abused or assaulted at some point in their lives. The courts ultimately will determine whether the nation’s sex discrimination laws apply to gender identity. The White House, in the meantime, will leave it up to the states to decide. School districts that looked to the Justice and Education departments for guidance will need to figure out their own solutions in a manner sensitive to all students’ civil rights. Many likely already have. I am confident my own school district is well positioned to do so. The guiding principles of its strategic plan — celebrating the unique backgrounds of students and staff, accepting human differences and using multiple approaches to meet the needs of all students — reinforces this belief. The issue, however, is not whether local school districts can handle such matters without legislation or litigation. The issue is whether a student’s civil liberties should be left to the vagaries of policies that differ district to district, especially when the perceived rights and safety of one student are at odds with the perceived rights and safety of another. This pits parents — all of whom are simply advocating for their own children’s rights — directly against one another. Such was the case with Gavin Grimm, a transgender youth from Virginia who has taken the issue all the way to the Supreme Court. While he was allowed to use the boys’ bathroom without incident when he first transitioned his sophomore year of high school, after seven weeks parents complained and the matter came up to the Gloucester County School Board for a ruling. The school board voted 6 to 1 against Grimm's request to continue to use the same bathroom as his male peers. “I cannot use the women’s room, quite frankly, because I am not a girl,” Grimm said to school board members before they rejected his appeal. “I understand it might be hard for some of you to look past biology and XY or XX, but we do know scientifically that this is not a choice. All I want to do is be a normal child and use the restroom in peace. And I have had no problem from students to do that, only from adults.” Grimm said he did not choose to be transgender. “I am just a human. I am just a boy,” he said. “Please consider my rights when you make your decision.” The Gloucester County School Board did not, nor did the White House this time around. It's now back to the courts to decide.
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Mary Anne BrushJournalist, fiction writer, wife and mother |