“This bill would threaten the kind of advances that school boards all across Wisconsin and all across the country have been doing, that are very thoughtful and comprehensive, and protect all students”, McDonell said.
Advertisement
Two Republican legislators are proposing a law that would bar transgender students from using the locker room or bathroom assigned to the gender with which they identify.
Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, told the State Journal on Tuesday that the bill seeks to provide “safety” and “privacy” to students using these rooms. Transgender young people already face staggeringly high rates of harassment, assault and suicide. Kremer said the bill uses that decision as a model for all schools, explaining that it would somehow prevent lawsuits against districts with their own, separate policies.
Other districts in the Green Bay area also have general policies that bar discrimination based on gender identity, but none have specific policies for locker rooms and restrooms.
The bill comes as districts across the state work to develop individual policies to address concerns from transgender students. If students misbehave in bathrooms or locker rooms, they can already be punished for that misbehavior. “Granting transgender students access to restrooms consistent with their gender identity will serve the public interest by ensuring that the District treats all students within its bounds with respect and dignity”. That policy allows for students to ask the district for accommodations, like proposed in the bill.
Parents of transgender students would be allowed to request special accommodations, but parents of other students would also be able to file a written complaint if they felt their child’s privacy was violated by a transgender student.
“We join Fair Wisconsin in strongly denouncing this legislation”.
GSAFE, an organization that aims to create a safe environment for LGBT students, says the proposed bill is “mean-spirited” and will make transgender students less safe.
GSAFE says almost 60 districts in Wisconsin have modified nondiscrimination policies to include protections for transgender students.
Advertisement
However Rep. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, who is working to add gender identity to Wisconsin’s anti-discrimination law, said there is no evidence of that happening. It sets Wisconsin schools – and the state itself – at odds with recently guidance from the U.S. Department of Education around Title IX. “And the school district would have to have reasonable accommodations”.
