I Prayed have prayed
Reading Time: 6 minutes

No protection, privacy or concern for the other 99.9% of the students at these schools, who BY FEDERAL MANDATE, are being forced to use the locker rooms and restrooms with transgender students or students who “identify” as the opposite sex.  Some of the school districts even came up with solutions that appealed to all parties, but the Federal Government got involved and mandated their own interpretation of total “equal access” for school facilities for students who wish to identify as the opposite sex. Pray for school districts who are being litigated against by the ACLU, the US Department of Education and the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Department.  Administrators are being forced to deny fair and safe treatment for the large majority of the student population, for the sake of a single student who wishes to choose their gender and access all facilities.  This is not the end.  The Federal Government is getting involved in issues that should remain local and state issues.  Their endless legal resources make it difficult for small and large school districts to do right by their students, being bullied into supporting the LGBT agenda.  Our elections are a critical part of stemming the tide of ushering in the progressive agenda into our communities, states and our nation.

From The Chicago Tribune:

The battle for equal access for transgender students is pitting Illinois‘ largest high school district against federal authorities.

At issue is locker room access for a transgender high school student in Palatine-based Township High School District 211. The student, who identifies as female, is asking that she receive full access to the girls’ locker room.

Citing privacy concerns, the district has denied the request and instead offered a separate room where the student can change.

“At some point, we have to balance the privacy rights of 12,000 students with other particular, individual needs of another group of students,” said District 211 Superintendent Daniel Cates. “We believe this infringes on the privacy of all the students that we serve.”

“We’re talking about somebody who is being denied fair and equal treatment as compared to the other students, only because she is transgender,” said John Knight, director of the LGBT and HIV Project at ACLU of Illinois.

Federal officials responded to the complaint, which was filed about a year and a half ago with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, by saying the school is in violation of the Title IX gender equality law, according to the ACLU and district officials. A representative of the civil rights office could not be reached Monday.

The controversy appears to have done little to faze district officials, who remain adamant that transgender students should not be allowed unfettered locker room access.

School officials and board of education members worked for months in hopes of finding an acceptable compromise, Cates said. The proposed solution, which Cates said was “quickly squelched,” required the transgender student to change and shower in private.

Transgender students also are given the option to use the locker room of the sex from which they transitioned, a district spokesman said.

The student who filed the complaint has been living as a girl for a number of years, Knight said. She plays sports and would like to be in the same locker room as her friends and classmates. Relegating her to a separate room down a long hallway from the gym only serves to stigmatize her, he said.

With educational campaigns and a recent media spotlight on transgender issues, school officials have found themselves wrestling more than ever with establishing best practices for their transgender students.

Last year, the Office for Civil Rights reached a settlement with a California school district after a transgender elementary school student filed a complaint alleging gender discrimination. The district ultimately agreed to allow the student to use female-designated facilities, including the locker room and bathroom.

In Barrington Community Unit School District 220, officials work with several transgender students and their families to ensure they feel included, spokesman Jeff Arnett said.

Only one middle school student has needed to use a locker room, Arnett said. That student is allowed full access to the locker room, with a slight variation.

“We provide an aide to the student in the locker room to be there and observe from a distance in case there are any questions or any issues,” Arnett said.

Just last year, Chicago Public Schools adopted guidelines for its transgender students, which included a case-by-case determination of locker room and bathroom use.

Neither Barrington nor Chicago has reported a problem, but that’s not been the case in all school systems. In recent years, backlash forced East Aurora school officials to retract a policy that allowed transgender students access to the locker rooms and bathrooms of their identified gender.

Alex Sennello, a local transgender activist, said she battled with school administrators at Lake Forest High School before graduating in 2013. She said they wanted her to use out-of-the-way faculty bathrooms. She ended up using the girls’ bathroom stalls to change for physical education.

Now 20 and a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Sennello co-founded Trans Student Educational Resources, an advocacy group. She said students can best decide for themselves which facility to use, with laws against sex crimes in place to protect everyone involved.

“Most transgender people, like most cisgender (or nontransgender) people, are perfectly capable of making smart decisions for themselves,” she said. “A lot goes into this: ‘Am I going to be safe? Am I going to be made fun of, or feel self-conscious?’ ”

Despite the federal ruling to the contrary, Cates said he does not see District 211’s policy as prejudiced. The district, he said, is responsive to the needs of its transgender students, including listing their self-identified gender and preferred name on school records. Transgender students also can play on the sports teams of the gender with which they identify and use the bathrooms of that gender.

“For all of us, our identity is who we are,” Cates said. “This identity, though their body doesn’t match, their identity is that of the other gender. And we fully, fully support that and acknowledge that.”

If the district cannot reach a compromise with federal officials, it risks losing some of the $6 million it receives in federal funding. Cates also acknowledged that litigation is a likely outcome.

Mike Cannon, parent of a former student at Fremd High School in District 211, supported the district’s position. Cannon is also a Rolling Meadows alderman but emphasized he was not speaking for the city.

“The solution District 211 came up with seems to be reasonable to me,” he said. “If someone wants to be a transgender person, I think giving them a private place to change would be a reasonable solution. To make special arrangements to fit into the general population is almost abusing the rights of others.”

Providing alternatives for all students who would like more privacy is a good thing, said Harper Jean Tobin, policy director at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

But Tobin said: “It’s a very different thing to say ‘Here’s the facility. Here’s how everyone else can use the facility, except you. We’ve determined there’s something wrong with you that you cannot use the facility in the same way that everyone else can.’ ”

 

From Fox News:

Oregon public schools will be required to let students use whichever bathroom and locker room they feel matches their gender identity, according to new state guidelines.

Transgender students will also be allowed to play on opposite-sex intramural sports teams, according to the guide issued by the state’s education department.

“There is no need for the student to prove their new gender,” says the 15-page document, titled “Creating a Safe and Supportive Environment for Transgender Students.” “The student’s declaration of their gender is acceptable.”

Oregon joins a handful of other states in recommending how schools should handle transgender students. So far, there are no legal penalties if schools don’t comply.

The Parents’ Rights in Education group came out against the guidelines, saying, “There are no legal grounds to require school districts to open up their bathrooms and changing rooms to members of the opposite biological sex.”

Meanwhile, the LGBT-rights group Basic Rights Oregon called the new standards a “wonderful first step” for the state in improving transgender rights in school.

Comments (0) Print

Partner with Us

Intercessors for America is the trusted resource for millions of people across the United States committed to praying for our nation. If you have benefited from IFA's resources and community, please consider joining us as a monthly support partner. As a 501(c)3 organization, it's through your support that all this possible.

Dave Kubal
IFA President
Become a Monthly Partner

Share

Click below to share this with others

Log in to Join the Conversation

Log in to your IFA account to start a discussion, comment, pray, and interact with our community.