Gloucester County School Board voted 6-1 on Tuesday night to enact a new policy about transgender students.
The new policy is basically, "We don't believe transgender kids are who they say they are."
The student most affected is Gavin Grimm. Gavin is 15 and attends Gloucester High School. Gavin began his transition from female to male last summer.
I was scared, because Gloucester is a very conservative area; it's a very religious area. I was very afraid to come out. I was very afraid to transition in school, but I learned that I had nothing to fear.
--Gavin Grimm
Gavin is a twin who, he says, grew up "very masculine." He syas he didn't feel any different from his twin brother.
By last summer, Gavin had decided, with the support of those around him, to transition to the gender he identified with. During the previous school year, he was registered using his birth name, but this year that changed.
I transitioned over the summer of this year. When I returned to school, it was under a new name with new pronouns. Easy as pie.
My peers were open-minded, open-armed. I've had support in people I've never expected. I've had people come up to me that I don't know, that you never in a million years would expect to be supportive of something like this. And others have been just curious.
--Gavin
But laying in wait for him was the age-old bathroom question.
He asked which he should use. Initially he was allowed to use the restroom in the nurse's station, because I am clearly not a girl, so I am not using the girl's restroom.
This is a pretty pressing need that every student has.
--Gavin
Gavin initially was fine with the nurse's restroom because he was still afraid. He didn't know how his peers would react.
I didn't want to push the envelope any further than I had to all at once.
--Gavin
But that solution wasn't working.
The nurse's office is at least a three minute walk from the class I have closest to it. It took a substantial amount of time out of my class time, and it was embarrassing. When you're gone for 15 minutes at a time to use the bathroom, what are high schoolers gonna think? It's humiliating and it's alienating.
--Gavin
Finally I went to them and I said, 'well clearly the staff bathroom is not working out, the nurse's bathroom is not working out, what can we do? My principal said, you know what, you're a boy. use the boy's room. So I said, 'Sweet!"
--Gavin
I have no complaints! Neither did the students, either. So I used the boys room no problem. I had absolutely no [negative] encounters in the boys restroom.
But we all know who did have a big problem with this. Some parents emailed complaints to the school board. So a proposal was written. It was supposed to be voted on last month, but the vote was delayed until Tuesday's meeting.
There is a general nondiscrimination policy, but it does not specifically address this issue. The language in the proposal basically states that students may only use restrooms that coincide with their biological sex. Students with "gender identity issues" would be provided an "alternative appropriate private facility.
I've used the boys bathroom in public for right around a year and a half now. I've never had any problems with that; not in Walmart, not in Busch Gardens, not anywhere. Nowhere have I ever had a problem using the boys restroom in public.
--Gavin Grimm
Gavin is prepared to deal with this outcome.
Legally, there's only one viable option here, and that is to give me my rights," he said. "If this proposal is passed, I'm not afraid, because like I said, I'm not gonna stop fighting if I don't have my rights upheld, and legally, eventually I will have my rights upheld.
Seeing that I have been put in this position, I feel that it is my moral duty to help as many people as I can with this, because I know I'm not the only transgender student at Gloucester High School, and I know I'm not the only transgender student that will ever go to Gloucester High School.
I realize the value of sharing my story and I want to tell some kids out there that they're not alone and that things will work out for them in the end.
--Gavin
Equality Virginia is disappointed that the Gloucester County School Board voted on a policy that not only discriminates against transgender students, but one that we believe to be illegal under Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972.
With this vote, the school board has failed to ensure that all students in Gloucester County Public Schools have equal access to public accommodations, including restrooms, locker rooms, or changing facilities, upon the basis of their gender identity,
--James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia
We are deeply disappointed that the school board opted to discriminate against transgender students by prohibiting them from using appropriate bathrooms and locker rooms. Our school boards should be focused on making Virginia schools as inclusive and welcoming as possible. This new policy will do the opposite. Forcing transgender students to use segregated facilities not only violates federal law, but is also intensely stigmatizing.
--ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg
Whereas the GCPS (Gloucester County Public Schools) recognizes that some students question their gender identities, and
Whereas the GCPS encourages such students to seek support and advice from parents, professionals and other trusted adults, and
Whereas the GCPS seeks to provide a safe learning environment for all students and to protect the privacy of all students, therefore
It shall be the practice of the GCPS to provide male and female restroom and locker room facilities in its schools, and the use of said facilities shall be limited to the corresponding biological genders, and students with sincere gender identity issues shall be provided an alternative private facility.
--the policy
What I see in the proposal is a misguided notion ("if you have a penis you go to the boys' bathroom, if you have a vagina you go to the girls' bathroom," as one commenter put it Tuesday night) of what gender identity is, and a failure to include Grimm under the much-vaunted protective umbrella meant for "all students."
Dozens of county residents (including me) spoke out regarding the proposal. Grimm's mother, Dee Grimm, noted that her "awesome kid" had been allowed by the school's principal to use the boys' bathroom since October, a development that Grimm himself referred to as "unimaginably wonderful, giving me all my rights in full." In support of Grimm, one attendee noted that transgender rights is "the civil rights issue of our time," and several others agreed. Most comments, however, turned on an assumption that non-transgender kids' privacy will be violated in ways that may cause them harm if the policy were not to pass. Distressingly, Grimm was referred to as "a girl" and as "a freak" during this period.
--Barbara J. King
My school, which for every student should be a safe haven, has now become an unsafe and unwelcoming place.
[T]he mental ramifications will be tremendous. I have a history of depression and anxiety. Both conditions will certainly be inflamed by the decision of the school board more so than they already have been. Furthermore, I find the unisex option unacceptable, as I am not 'other; 'third' or 'unisex.' Certainly not 'unisex.' I view it as discrimination still, and will fight it to the full extent of my capabilities.
--Gavin Grimm. in an email to King
This decision is wrong because it violates the civil rights of transgender students by denying them equal access to school facilities. Title IX as interpreted by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights requires all public schools to treat transgender students consistent with the student's gender identity. No school board can substitute its own interpretation of the law for that of the Department of Education. Failing to comply with Title IX puts Gloucester County Public Schools' federal funding at risk. Gloucester County Public Schools can protect the privacy rights of all students and still comply with Title IX by retrofitting bathrooms to make sure that there are only stalls in the boys' and girls' bathrooms [versus, for example, open urinals in the boys' bathrooms].
--Kim Enderson Hensley, the lone dissenting board member