LGBT advocates back transgender students with new website
Georgia advocates have established a website where transgender students and their parents can report being forced to use a different restroom or changing area than their peers.
“If you are a transgender student and you are being denied access to facilities at school, we want to hear from you,” five groups that advocate for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people said in a joint statement. Lambda Legal, Georgia Equality, Anti-Defamation League, Georgia Safe Schools Coalition and GLSEN Atlanta have established the Georgia Transgender Student Rights Watch to monitor discrimination against students from elementary school to college.
"Separating transgender students from other students by forcing them to use separate restroom and locker room spaces is demeaning and can be emotionally damaging. It also violates the law," said the groups, who added this on the new website where incidents can be reported: "We have your back."
The issue came to the forefront in May when President Barack Obama's administration issued a directive threatening loss of funding for schools that didn't comply with the U.S. Department of Education's interpretation of the law on transgender students' access to bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Georgia joined 10 states in a lawsuit against the federal directive.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
