Elsewhere in the country, the debate over the rights of transgender people and bathrooms will probably rage on for some time. Some states like North Carolina may try running in the opposite direction of the Obama administration, citing Massachusetts law, which last week ordered public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. Lawsuits will no doubt follow.
But Massachusetts is moving to build upon existing rights for transgender residents that were enacted in 2012. Last week, the state Senate passed a bill that would prohibit discrimination against transgender people in sports arenas, gas stations, movie theaters, bars, malls, and other public accommodations.
People who identify with a sex other than the one assigned at birth could use the restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms that match their personal gender identity. The initiative heads to the House next, where the leadership supports the concept if not the specific language of the Senate bill.
Only time will tell precisely how these moves by the Obama administration and our state lawmakers will play out in different communities, it was refreshing to find at least one school in Franklin County wasn’t waiting to be told to support transgender pupils during adolescence.
Last winter, Frontier Regional School, which serves seventh- through 12th-graders from Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland and Whately, took two of its single-room staff restrooms and turned them into a pair of gender-neutral restrooms.
The new federal rules and proposed state law don’t require students to use gender-neutral bathrooms but rather allow them to use the bathroom they feel appropriate to their gender identity. Principal Darius Modestow said the change at his school was based on the needs and wishes of the some of the school’s current students and anticipates the desires of future students who may feel more comfortable having the option.
“It’s just being supportive,” Modestow told The Recorder.
Accommodating transgender students and their peers in locker rooms may be more challenging, Modestow admits, but he said he will handle that situation when it arises on a case-by-case basis, hoping to work with students to develop a solution that works for everyone.
That’s a can-do attitude that we hope other school districts in the county, and throughout the state, adopt. So far, other county school districts asked by The Recorder about their plans or current practices have been quiet. Perhaps they have been caught off guard by the rapidly changing transgender rights landscape and want time to chart their way forward before talking publicly.
How exactly our public schools respect the rights of transgender individuals will become clear in the weeks and months ahead. Finding ways to balance the rights of everyone in providing public accommodations is complex, but we hope schools, private organizations and businesses will see this not as an onerous rule but as an opportunity to support a beleaguered and misunderstood minority.