Transgender policy elicits strong opinions

Strong opinions surrounded a post on The Star’s Facebook page when The Star shared an article from the paper headlined “Transgender policy, club approved at school board meeting.”

Opinions on both sides of the argument centered around the idea of boys using the girls’ restroom.

“So this means that a BOY who thinks he is a girl or wants to be a girl can now go into the female bathroom with my daughter? If that’s the case I do not agree with it,” a Michael Dennis wrote on Facebook. “If you have a wiener you go into the bathroom where the sign is wearing pants...not a dress.”

“I will never understand the bigotry and the immense miseducation behind the thought process of some people that lead them to believe that transgender also translates as ‘sex offender’,” wrote Brea Desautel on the same post. “... Transgender individuals have been using bathrooms respective to their identity for years whether you want to believe it or not. Clubs and organizations, even such as this small one here, encourage inclusion and understanding of issues such as this and attempt to unify all with education and advocacy for underrepresented groups.”

“I am all for there being a program for students of all kinds to go if they need a place to feel safe or someone to talk to..that itself is a great thing,” wrote Rindi Green. “I do however have an issue with the bathroom thing. I am not against LGBT rights my best friend is trans but when it comes down to a man or boy going into the womens bathroom my daughter is in I will be livid!”

Other concerns are that a girl would feel safer in a single occupancy bathroom with a lock on it, and that girls can feel they are threatened by perverted boys.

A misconception seems to be that the Grand Coulee Dam School District came up with the policy, which is actually something based on state law, and on guidelines of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

A 2010 state law protects against discrimination at schools, and in 2012, the OSPI issued official guidelines for schools.

Concerning restrooms, the guidelines state that “school districts should allow students to use the restroom that is consistent with their gender identity consistently asserted at school.”

The Grand Coulee Dam School District’s policy elaborates on the procedures concerning transgender students, including encouraging a meeting with transgender students or their parents to discuss the student’s gender identity, preferred pronouns, and more.

One interpretation of these procedures is that a transgender student would establish what their preferred gender is before proceeding to use the bathroom, thus weeding out any males who want to take advantage of the policy to sexually exploit women in the bathroom.