The Rights Of Transgender Students Rights

There is a saying, if a person has got to go, they have to go. This saying refers to needing to use the bathroom, and it is not that simple for transgender people. Transgender people have been barred from using the bathroom of their choice, with bills and laws that are called bathroom bills. These bathroom bills are unfair, and need to be banned, as they lead to physical and verbal harassment towards people in schools and accounts for discrimination against transgender people across the country.

Recently, the issue of allowing transgender people access to public facilities according to the gender they identify with has caused much debate throughout the United States. The bathroom bill seeks to control access to public facilities of transgender individuals, based on the gender they were assigned at birth. In 2015, bills were passed stating entering a bathroom not assigned to a person at birth was a crime. Surrounded by misconception, the bill does “not legalize harassment, stalking, violence, or sexual assault.” Since the bill arose, there have not been a rise in violence or other incidents in the states protecting the transgender rights (Transgender Equality). The bill simply states if one is living as a woman, to use the women’s restroom,

There are around 1.4 million transgenders around the United States. Through the years there have been debates whether transgender people should be permitted to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity. A lot of people are afraid of sharing bathrooms with transgender because there might be people who could take advantage of this law and sexually harass or assault other individuals. The transgender bathroom issues should be a law in every state because transgender people are human beings and their rights should also be protected just like everyone else.

Kansas passed a bill on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 that denies transgender students from using the restroom, as well as other facilities retaining to gender “when they are in various states of undress” (Committee on Federal and State Affairs, page 1; sec. 2; subparagraph b; lines 8-12), based on their preferred gender and forces them to use the restroom based on their birth sex. This bill was passed by the Committee on Federal and State Affairs in order to protect the privacy of students and to prevent “potential embarrassment, shame and psychological injury to students” (Committee on Federal and State Affairs, page 1; sec. 2; subparagraph f; lines 27-29). This bill also allows for students to sue a transgender student for two-thousand five hundred dollars if they are found in the “wrong” restroom. Forcing the transgender students in Kansas to use the restroom based on biology is wrong because forcing someone to disregard a personal preference to accommodate another is inhumane and has potentially deadly effects.

The School Board will be in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq., if they do not allow a male that is diagnosed with gender dysphoria and identifies as a female, access to the female restroom. Though the Supreme Court has not ruled on this topic, a Fourth Circuit ruling, the Department of Education and Department of Justice Dear Colleague Letter, and case law regarding transgender students can help enlighten the school board on this topic. An introductory understanding of Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 will assist in this matter. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and its regulations prohibit sex discrimination in schools, educational programs and activities that are recipients of Federal funds. Within Title IX it specifically prohibits the discrimination of student’s based on gender identity, including the discrimination of transgender students. Title IX provides: “[n]o person… shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a).

Here in Canada, this issue has been brought forward in both communities and provincial level of concerns. To take a look closer to home, the city of Toronto had witnessed the complexity of this issue in the past years. A Toronto transgender teen who identifies as a male, was banned from using his high school boys restroom, and was forced to leave school grounds and search for a public bathroom at a gas station. Concerns were mentioned for the safety of Spencer, and also how he felt uncomfortable being forced to use the women’s restroom; however, several parents and students agreed with how the school was taking action to this problem. After a petition was enacted by fellow supportive students, Spencer was allowed to freely use the restrooms at his high school.

The changing norms of the generation has brought upon commotion between various states because of the presidents judgement. The transgender bathroom policy allows transgender students to use the bathroom they identify as and not by the sex on their birth certificate (Fox News, 2016). The transgender bathroom policy has both successes and failure to ensure safety for transgender students resulting to its change being for not only trans-gender. Gender neutral bathrooms allows safety for those who are not only transgender, but also a part of the LGBTQ community, etc. but it causes a conflict with gender segregation. Adding additional bathrooms to suite other gender preferences costs more money and not everyone is going to accept what they walk into the bathroom and see. The gender neutral bathroom policy should be taken off of hold and be put into action because everything is constantly changing and those who do not identify as the sex they were assigned at birth are at risk for harm.

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (US Dept. of Education). The Education Amendments of 1972 and revised in 2015, including the Title IX segment assures transgender student-athletes obtain impartial, respectful and lawful access to collegiate sports teams based on current and legal medical knowledge. The U.S. Department of Education has issued guidelines regarding Title IX and transgender students that prohibit sex-based discrimination based on gender identity (FindLaw).

Under Title IX, a school is permitted to provide certain sex-segregated areas, such as restrooms and housing, as well as certain single-sex classes and sports teams. Transgender students must be allowed to participate in activities and access facilities consistent with their gender identity.

Humans have established their own rights in society for many, many years now. However, because some humans differ from the norms that are built in society, they are shunned and denied their rights until they conform to society’s norms. There has been numerous groups of people who have been denied their rights in America. African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and gays have been isolated simply because that is the way that they were born into this world and others do not find them “normal”. There is another group that has also been mistreated though; people who identify themselves as transgendered. A good portion of society is unknowingly misinformed about these kinds of people.

Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972, are a specific set of laws that prohibit any entity that receives any kind of federal funding, regardless of how it’s received or whether they are Public or Private, from discriminating based upon sex. This can mean via Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or grants received via the Federal Government for building or renovations. It also forbids sexual harassment (Title). However, one question remains unanswered; “Does Title IX cover sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination?”

Nearly 80% of transgender people report that they were harassed while 35% said that they were physically assaulted at school. Transgender people are also frequent targets of hate speech, Hate crime, Bullying, physical and psychological violence, Between 2008 and 2016 there have been over 2,000 reported murders cases in 65 countries across the globe. In the U.S at least 25 transgender people were killed in 2017. 30% of transgender youth reported a history of at least one suicide attempt, and nearly 42% reported that they had attempted self - harm. According to the national center for transgender equality research, transgender people with supportive families are for less likely to

Now that trans bathroom access in schools is in the hands of the state, it is now their responsibility to shoulder the blame for the consequences of the removal of trans students from Title IX. By not allowing trans students proper bathroom and locker room

The administration’s directive is citing Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive any federal funding, in telling schools to give transgender students access to facilities that are consistent with their gender identity.

When someone calls themself transgender, it means that they do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. For example, someone who was born as a man may later realize that they are in fact a woman; this person would be called a trans woman. There is much debate over transgenderism and, specifically, whether society should treat transgenders as their biological sex or their gender identity. For example, if a transgender man (biological sex being female) wants to use the men’s restroom, should he be able to? The laws that would allow this are known as transgender inclusion laws, and the debate over passing such laws has always been extremely heated. Transgender inclusion laws should be passed in all areas, as there has been no increase in crime rates as a result of transgender use of public facilities, transgenderism is absolutely real and should be recognized as such, and these laws only brings benefits for any trans-friendly environments.