Last night, the Stafford County School Board, prior to voting, took public feedback on a debate over transgender students’ bathroom access. For some background, see Think Progress, which explains:
Hartwood Elementary School, part of the Stafford County school system, started by accommodating the student’s identity. She was allowed to use the girls’ room per her gender identity and in consultation with her parents. When another parent complained, the district’s Executive Director of Human Resources, Rick L. Fitzgerald, released a message on behalf of the district referring to recent guidance from the Department of Justice that indicates that the “sex” protections under Title IX protect transgender students’ use of facilities that match the gender with which they identify. Allowing the fourth-grader to use the girls’ room was simply the district complying with the law.
…The transgender student’s father, Jonathan Adams, also testified. He admitted to having some of the same misconceptions when the child he thought was his son insisted she was a girl. “And then I watched my little girl grow up,” he said. Adams proclaimed that he was “very proud to have a special little girl,” and implored others “not to trade understanding for fear or trade misconceptions for hate.”
Later in the evening, however, the school board voted 6-0 to direct the superintendent to restrict the girl’s bathroom use.
Also interesting were the comments by the public. For the entire debate, most of which involved parents opposed to allowing the transgender student (who identifies as female) to use the girls’ bathroom, see here. The video I’ve included is of a courageous parent (of two students in the Stafford County school system) delivering an impassioned plea for respect and tolerance for the transgender student. Sadly, her pleas feel on deaf ears…
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