Wake schools expand protection for transgender students. Some critics are unhappy.
Updated Jan. 5 with school board giving final approval to policy changes.
The Wake County school system is expanding anti-discrimination protection to its transgender students and employees, over the objections of conservative groups.
The Wake County school board unanimously gave initial approval Dec. 15 to revisions to the district’s anti-harassment and employment policies to include “transgender or gender identity” among the groups protected against discrimination. The policy changes are based on federal court rulings that have said, among other things, that transgender people should be allowed to use the restroom that matches their gender identity.
The board gave final approval to the changes on Jan. 5.
“This policy goes a step further to make sure that we are inclusive of all students — and not only students but staff — in making sure that we are doing what we can to protect them from any type of bullying,” said board member Karen Carter.
Wake, which is North Carolina’s largest school system, already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability or age. The new protections go into effect immediately.
Some critics have charged that the policy changes would put female students at risk.
“Your policy will, for example, allow males claiming to be non-binary (true or not) to enter locker rooms full of half-dressed girls; or will enable a group of males to occupy bathrooms with a girl who is already in that space by herself,” a group called Education First Alliance NC, said in its written comments submitted to Tuesday’s board meeting. “This practice will rob girls of the most important personal liberty they possess; the right to privacy.”
The conflict in Wake mirrors the statewide fight over House Bill 2, in which Republican state lawmakers put rules on use of public restrooms and banned towns from passing anti-discrimination rules for local businesses.
A 2019 settlement was reached in a federal lawsuit saying that state agencies and universities can’t ban transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. The ban on new local anti-discrimination laws expired Dec. 1, The News & Observer previously reported.
Federal courts expand transgender rights
Wake school officials say the policy changes are being made in response to two recent federal court decisions.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Bostock v. Clayton County case that federal employment discrimination law applies to transgender people.
In August, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on behalf of Gavin Grimm, a transgender male student who had been barred from using the restroom of his choice by his Virginia school district. The court said it is unconstitutional to bar students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
North Carolina is in the 4th Circuit’s jurisdiction.
“These are very high-level definitive court decisions that are based on federal law that provide anti-discrimination protections for an employee that identifies as transgender or a student that identifies as transgender,” said board attorney Jonathan Blumberg.
Initially, the policy changes were only going to include adding “transgender status.” But a board committee suggested adding gender identity as well to include people who are agender or non-binary and don’t follow traditional concepts of gender.
Mixed reaction to changes
Policies explicitly enumerating and protecting students from discrimination based on gender identity are increasingly commonplace, according to Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Asheville-based LGBTQ advocacy group Campaign for Southern Equality.
“All young people deserve schools that provide safe and affirming places where they can learn, grow, and thrive,” Beach-Ferrara said in a written statement to the N&O. “Policies like the one being considered by Wake County are fundamentally about ensuring that all students, including transgender students, are granted respect and dignity.”
But some public comments submitted to the school board meeting were from people adamantly against the changes.
“Males should not be allowed in the female bathroom,” Yan Yan wrote to the board. “Schools should consider female students’ feelings because many female students are not comfortable with male in their bathroom.”
Jack Ling accused school leaders of putting “law abiding, normal citizens at risk.”
“People escaped progressive idiotic ideologies to come to NC, only to be faced by the garbage spewed by those ‘progressive’ states,” Ling wrote the board.
But Beach-Ferrara said Wake is only trying to ensure “that no one should face discrimination because of who they are.”
“Given all of this, it’s not only the ability of our school systems to create policies lifting up and protecting transgender students from mistreatment — it’s also likely their legal obligation and their basic responsibility as they commit to creating spaces where all young people can thrive,” Beach-Ferrara said.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Wake schools expand protection for transgender students. Some critics are unhappy.."
