Good said the students who protested just wanted their voices heard and that parents want a school policy that protects their children’s privacy.
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The school district said it “respects the rights of all students and appreciates the fact that the students we are educating are willing to stand on their belief system and to support their cause/beliefs through their expression of free speech”.
Part of the issue is that while Perry identifies as transgender, she still has male genitalia. I’m a girl. I’m just in there to change, do my business. Perry said the district has offered her use of a gender neutral restroom, but Perry said she should be able to use the girls’ restroom. For more than a year, she has presented as her true self, in the feminine clothes that make her happy, with long straight brown hair.
Students at the Hillsboro High School in Missouri walked out of class during lessons and stayed outside school for two hours to protest against school senior Lila Perry, 17, being granted permission to use the girls’ bathroom. ‘Boys needs to have their own locker room. “Girls need to have their own locker room, and if somebody has mixed feelings where they are, they need to have their own also”, said protester Jeff Childs.
Several local media reports refer to Perry as “still physically a male”. In reality, only 33 percent of transgender people have reported undergoing some form of gender-confirming surgery, with 14 percent of transgender women and 21 percent of transgender men telling the Human Rights Campaign a year ago they are not interested in ever having such surgery. The U.S. DOE Office of Civil Rights said, in 2014, that denying a transgender person access to the bathroom or locker room of their choice is illegal sex discrimination. His oldest daughter attends extracurricular activities at the high school a few days a week.
Indeed, trans advocates nationwide have pointed out that separate facilities stigmatize trans youth, while failing to accomplish the commonly stated goal of protecting student safety and privacy.
Since then, civil rights lawyer Michael Silverman says his firm has seen more families coming forward to assert their rights and more government action enforcing rights for transgender students.
Perry’s struggle also exposes the health dangers that can arise from such misguided policies.
The student who wears heels, mini-skirts, makeup and a wig to school previously used the unisex facilities which were meant for the teaching staff but since the beginning of the school term has decided that she should be allowed to use the girls’ bathroom.
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A community is divided over access for a transgender teen. “I didn’t want to be in the gender-neutral bathroom”.
