Reports: Transgender students can use preferred bathroom, feds say

Georgia school districts are trying to figure out what impact the federal guidelines on transgender bathroom and locker rooms will have on them.

The Obama administration sent out guidelines about 9:30 a.m. Friday to the nation’s public school systems directing them to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The directive is not a federal law. But The New York Times reported schools that do not follow the directive could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid. Georgia’s public schools receive millions of dollars from the federal government each year for classroom education.

The flap already hit Fannin County Thursday night when parents turned out en masse at a school board meeting to express their concerns about a situation there, and state House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, has already taken a stance.

He wrote in a letter to Georgia’s senators: “Rather, my concern regarding this issue is that the federal government is dictating to our locally-elected Board of Education with regards to the policies they enact in a way never before seen.

Using the power of the purse strings to bring about such change is, in my opinion, a vast overreach of federal authority and one that must not go unchallenged. I recognize that there are no easy answers. But decisions on issues such as this should be left to the locally-elected school boards and should be free of threats and coercion of the federal government.”

Bathroom use for transgender citizens has been a contentious issue in recent months. The U.S. Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other this week over that state’s law that restricts access to bathrooms and locker rooms.

Here is part of the text of an initial letter from the U.S. Department of Education:

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance today to help provide educators the information they need to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.

Recently, questions have arisen from school districts, colleges and universities, and others about transgender students and how to best ensure these students, and non-transgender students, can all enjoy a safe and discrimination-free environment.

Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 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.

The guidance explains that when students or their parents, as appropriate, notify a school that a student is transgender, the school must treat the student consistent with the student’s gender identity. A school may not require transgender students to have a medical diagnosis, undergo any medical treatment, or produce a birth certificate or other identification document before treating them consistent with their gender identity.

The guidance also explains schools’ obligations to:

• Respond promptly and effectively to sex-based harassment of all students, including harassment based on a student’s actual or perceived gender identity, transgender status, or gender transition;

• Treat students consistent with their gender identity even if their school records or identification documents indicate a different sex;

• Allow students to participate in sex-segregated activities and access sex-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity; and

• Protect students’ privacy related to their transgender status under Title IX and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

At the same time, the guidance makes clear that schools can provide additional privacy options to any student for any reason. The guidance does not require any student to use shared bathrooms or changing spaces, when, for example, there are other appropriate options available; and schools can also take steps to increase privacy within shared facilities.

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The U.S. Department of Education issued a letter noting how some school districts have made accomodations for transgender students in bathrooms and locker rooms as a guidline.

Sex-Segregated Activities and Facilities

7. How do schools ensure transgender students have access to facilities consistent with their gender identity? Schools often segregate restrooms and locker rooms by sex, but some schools have policies that students must be permitted to access facilities consistent with their gender identity and not be required to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or alternative facilities.

The Washington State Guidelines provide: “School districts should allow students to use the restroom that is consistent with their gender identity consistently asserted at school.” In addition, no student “should be required to use an alternative restroom because they are transgender or gender nonconforming.”

The Washoe County Regulation provides: “Students shall have access to use facilities that correspond to their gender identity as expressed by the student and asserted at school, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records, including but not limited to locker rooms.”

The Anchorage Administrative Guidelines emphasize the following provision: “However, staff should not require a transgender or gender nonconforming student/employee to use a separate, nonintegrated space unless requested by the individual student/employee.”

8. How do schools protect the privacy rights of all students in restrooms or locker rooms?

Many students seek additional privacy in school restrooms and locker rooms. Some schools have provided students increased privacy by making adjustments to sex-segregated facilities or providing all students with access to alternative facilities.