Last month, the U.S. 4th District Circuit Court ruled that transgender students should be allowed to use bathrooms that aligned to their gender identity, not their sex assigned at birth designated on their birth certificate. All across the South we have seen transpanic through bathroom bills and now we have seen two school districts in South Carolina further perpetuate these attacks on young trans people. In Berkeley County, one of the high schools decided to follow the 4th Circuit ruling and allow bathrooms be more accessible to trans students, but the school board wanted to weigh on their decision.
Earlier this week, Berkeley County School District held a meeting to address whether or not they wanted to comply with the 4th Circuit Grimm decision that would allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match with their gender identity. Members of Southerners on New Ground, joined by Girls Rock Charleston and We Are Family, attended the meeting in hopes that the school board would follow the ruling and create an inclusive learning environment for all students and to show support to LGBTQ students and their families in the district. Once the school board received legal counsel and finished their private executive session with a lawyer, the school board read off their decision in a statement. The statement declared that Berkeley County School Board deemed the 4th Circuit Court decision as “unresolved” therefore they would work with transgender students on a case by case basis for the academic year until the federal government told them to do differently. After reading of their statement, SONG member leader, Princess Hollis, read of the following statement during Public Comments:
Though I come here from the neighboring district of Charleston County, I am here today as a representative of Southerners on New Ground and a resident of this state. I am here today to speak to you all as the body of people elected to uphold the serious responsibility of creating and maintaining a healthy educational environment for all students in this county.
We see your lukewarm reaction as not only as a blatant attack on transgender people, but is directed at all folks who are within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community as well as people who are on a variable spectrum of gender expression. In this state we see how transphobia continues to impact transgender people, especially trans youth. This decision mirrors the discriminatory bills that have been cropping up all across the South that dictate how trans people are being banned from public space and public accommodations.
The recent ruling from the 4th District Circuit Court is a clear signal from the federal government, in addition to yesterday’s legal action by the Department of Justice, that we are at a historic crossroads. This is not just a question of where people can pee. School districts and public institutions across the South and across the country must decide if they are willing to actively enforce both the discrimination against transgender students and people and enforce a climate of hate and violence.
School districts across our state and across the country are incurring the financial and legal implications of NOT complying with the court’s decision and being lobbied and cajoled by conservative legal entities that would have us believe that just because something is legal that it is also just or right.
I am here to implore you that despite the financial and legal consequences of your actions today, there are far deeper and longer lasting consequences including ostracizing and isolating young people based on their gender identity or presentation and sanctioning bullying. Do you want to be the school board known for requiring gender checkpoints for all students and teachers before they are allowed to use any restroom? Will you be known for a legacy that creates such a drastic breach of privacy?
I do not need to remind you that this is not the first time that local school boards have been called into the political circus that is state government versus federal government. I do not need to remind you that there have been other historic crossroads that have called for us as leaders and as elected officials to decide whether or not we are willing to violate the rights of some of our students in the name of the safety of others. I ask you to remember your duty to provide an environment for every student of South Carolina that is dignified and respectful that allows them to access the most basic right of education.
The noncommittal reaction that the Berkeley School Board gave on Monday shows that they are not willing to be moved to ensure the safety and inclusion of trans students until they have no choice. The idea of assessing these issues on a case-by-case basis is a plan that schools have already been implementing with no positive impact on the young people involved. They feel isolated, forced to go out of their way to the nurse’s bathroom and face harassment and bullying because of this. All students deserve a dignified and respectful educational experience, including trans kids. It is the moral obligation of all schools to create a proper learning environment.
*Since the writing of this post the Obama Administration is planning on issuing a directive to school districts instructing them to let transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. Read more at http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/us/politics/obama-administration-to-issue-decree-on-transgender-access-to-school-restrooms.html