Bathroom Access for Transgender Students

Bathroom Access for Transgender Students

By Max Quinton

          Imagine this, you are a student and you simply have to go to the bathroom. Normally, you just ask to go to the bathroom and are on your way. But this situation is different. You, being transgender, have two options. Hold it, or go into a bathroom that does not correlate with your gender identity. Across the country, especially throughout the course of this year, transgender students are being revoked of the right to use bathroom facilities and locker rooms that correlate with the gender they identify as. People argue that allowing transgender students to use the facilities of the gender they identify as, will go against people’s religious beliefs. Furthermore, people argue that men will disguise themselves as transgender women to enter the women’s bathroom and sexually assault them, yet there have never been any reports of this. The Trump Administration is making it very clear that they will not be supporting or protecting transgender students in public schools leaving them without a safe place to exist, without any protection in court cases involving discrimination in schools, and leaving them even more vulnerable to violence and bullying.
          When needing to go to the bathroom, most people do not have a second thought about it. When transgender students attend schools that do not allow them to use the bathrooms that their gender identity aligns with, they feel trapped and unsafe in a place where no student should feel unsafe. They are being stripped of the comfort that every other student gets to have while going to the bathroom or changing for gym. In schools in states including Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee and many more, there are discrimination laws in place that require transgender students to use facilities that correlate with the gender they were assigned at birth. This leads to students holding in waste which is not healthy and leads to them feeling unsafe in their school. To take away their right to use facilities specified for the gender they identify with, is to take away a place for them to exist and is initially trying to erase them and silence them in schools across the country.
          In addition to these discrimination laws, the Department of Education confirms that they will no longer investigate complaints. They said they ¨will no longer investigate civil rights complaints filed by transgender youth who were banned from accessing restrooms that match their gender identity¨ (MJ Okma). Because of the Trump-Pence Administration, the Department of Education is lowering their bars for protecting and enforcing civil rights laws in schools, widely impacting transgender students. During Obama´s presidency, he states that transgender students are to be protected under Title IX, prohibiting the discrimination of students due to gender identity. Not even a year into his presidency, Trump revokes this statement saying they will not be protecting transgender students, stating that Title IX only protects the discrimination of sex, not gender identity. Court cases filed by transgender students across America are being flat-out declined because of this ruling. Transgender students are being denied in courts all across the country including a transgender boy from Virginia named Gavin Grimm, who brings his issue as far as the Supreme Court and still, is dismissed.

          As if these students are not already exposed to enough violence and bullying in school, these discrimination laws will ultimately increase the taunting they receive. These discrimination laws that are set in place in various states are already a huge form of bullying and violence against transgender students in itself. Without the protection of the government, transgender students are left to fend for themselves, as if being transgender is not already hard enough. A transgender student cannot enter a bathroom that is designated for their assigned sex at birth, as they put themselves at risk of being verbally and even physically harassed. If a transgender student is passing as the gender they identify as, or has already physically transitioned, it is a danger to themselves and others for them enter a bathroom that is meant for the opposite gender. Transgender students are already at a higher risk of harassment and violence and the bills that are being passed are increasing these things in schools across the country.
          Looking at the fact that anti-discrimination laws were already in place during Obama’s presidency, these laws should be put back into place and reinforced. There is no reason for these laws to not still be in place, other than pure trans phobia. People need to recognize that no student should be at risk or unsafe in their own school, and that they should be protected under the law. All schools should allow their students to use the facilities that correlate with their gender identity, or wherever they feel comfortable. At the end of the day, we are all human, and every human wants a safe place to simply go to the bathroom.

Okma, MJ. “One Year after Trump Revoked Federal Non-Discrimination Guidance to Protect Transgender Students, States Are Emboldened to Target Trans Youth.” GLAAD, 22 Feb. 2018, www.glaad.org/blog/one-year-after-trump-revoked-federal-non-discrimination-guidance-protect-transgender-students.

Human Rights Campaign. “Department of Education Rejects Civil Rights Complaints.” Human Rights Campaign, www.hrc.org/blog/department-of-education admits-to-rejecting-trans-civil-rights-complaints.

“ Education Department No Longer Investigating Transgender Bathroom Complaints.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 Feb. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/02/12/education-department-will-no-longer-investigate-transgender-bathroom-complaints/?utm_term=.c4797525e9c8%5C%5C