Transgender bathroom rule likely to affect schools (with video)

Several years ago, when Cynthia DeVille went to use a women’s restroom at a Missouri truck stop early in her transition from a man to a woman, it didn’t go unnoticed.

“One of the men turned around and said, ‘You’re going into the wrong restroom,’ ” said DeVille, now 53 and a Columbia Basin College student.

DeVille still had the close-cropped haircut she’d worn during her years in the Air Force. But she deflected the man’s concern and insisted she was heading to the right bathroom. No one stopped her.

“Restrooms are always an uneasy experience,” she said.

The matter recently shot to the forefront when the Washington State Human Rights Commission announced transgender people have the right to use public restrooms of the gender they identify with, based on the state’s non-discrimination law.

Republican state lawmakers have drafted legislation to overturn that ruling, calling it a matter of security for others, particularly women.

It also inspired a recent discussion among Kennewick School Board members. Currently, transgender students in the district — and in many others — use designated restrooms, such as one in a school nurse’s office, when needed.

It’s an approach Kennewick board member Ben Messinger said works, “but you only need one student to dismantle it,” and the recent ruling makes that more likely.

DeVille and other transgender individuals dismissed claims that transgender women and men pose a threat to anyone. They said they can understand a circumstance where a school administrator may want to limit transgender students from using a regular bathroom for their own safety.

But that would be a disservice to a youth who may be in the early stages of transition, already facing significant struggles and just wanting access to a toilet or sink.

“When they go to the bathroom, they just don’t want it to be a hassle,” said Anna Southern, a transgender woman who has worked with transgender youth in the Tri-Cities.

Privacy, safety, comfort

The state’s non-discrimination law has been on the books since 2006.

The commission’s ruling affects any business or entity that offers publicly accessible restrooms or locker rooms.

That standard also applies to schools, though administrators “should assess the use of locker rooms by transgendered students on a case-by-case basis, with the goals of maximizing the student’s social integration and equal opportunity, ensuring the student’s safety and comfort, and minimizing the stigmatization of the student.

“In most cases, transgender students should have access to the locker room that corresponds to their gender identity consistently asserted at school,” the ruling adds.

Court rulings also have provided transgender students with protection under what is commonly known as Title IX, a federal education law that prohibits discrimination based on sex.

There is a gender-neutral bathroom available at WSU Tri-Cities, but university spokeswoman Maegan Murray said transgender students are free to use other restrooms based on their gender identity.

CBC President Rich Cummins said the college is “nondiscriminatory in everything” and he’s heard of no complaints to the college about transgender individuals using restrooms around campus.

“Our environment here is about diversity,” Cummins said.

Tri-City school district officials said they do follow the state’s nondiscrimination law, and administrators work closely with transgender students and their families to address concerns about privacy, safety and a student’s ability to be comfortable while at school.

“We don’t have any language specific to restroom access, although we do follow state law and (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) rules,” said Pasco Assistant Superintendent Sarah Thornton in a statement. “We have worked with individual students on a case-by-case basis.”

Kennewick administrators recently told school board members transgender students in the district use designated restrooms where they can have privacy so they aren’t harassed or bullied.

The Human Rights Commission’s ruling, however, could force the district to change that approach, and Messinger raised concerns about how transgender students using standard bathrooms would affect other students.

Under the recent ruling, it’s students who are uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with a transgender student who should be offered an alternative bathroom option.

Avoiding stigma

DeVille and Southern made their transitions when they were adults, but both knew as children that they were different, they said.

They spent much of their lives repressing themselves, especially during their school years, when being transgender was taboo. They now live openly as transgender women.

“You don’t choose it,” DeVille said of being transgender. “You hear ‘you choose to do this’ and I say ‘really?’ I’m marginalized.”

Circumstances are better today than during their youth, both say, noting there’s more acceptance for transgender individuals. But transgender youth — along with those identifying as lesbian, gay and bisexual — are more likely to drop out of school. They also face an increased risk of bullying and physical assault because of their gender expression.

One of the best ways to protect transgender youth is to support them, Southern said. That includes allowing a student to dress and live as the gender they identify with and encouraging others at the school to treat them with respect. Bathroom access is also critical.

Tri-City transgender youth have told Southern it can be a struggle to get to the one designated bathroom they have at school because of schedules and logistics, she said. That’s led some to experience extra scrutiny from teachers when they are late to class or perceived as taking too long for a bathroom break.

Being able to use a men’s or women’s bathroom also helps transgender youth live their lives as their perceived gender, Southern said. There is a risk that someone will question or perhaps even become confrontational with a transgender person using a public restroom, but that choice should ultimately reside with them.

“I think the vast majority of trans people want to blend in,” Southern said.

And what if school officials cite potential safety concerns as a reason for limiting transgender bathroom options?

“I think if you go down that road, you’re going to get a lot of discrimination,” she said.

‘There’s not even room for debate’

While some have raised concerns regarding the comfort and safety of other students who may share bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender students, Tri-City school officials said every precaution is taken to protect everyone.

Kennewick Superintendent Dave Bond downplayed the potential for a student to portray themselves as transgender simply to gain access to a restroom they really don’t belong in.

“It’s not something you can do on a whim,” Bond said, noting the communication required between the student and school administrators.

Information compiled in 2015 from 12 states with laws protecting transgender students found no reports of harassment or inappropriate behavior on the part of transgender youth using bathrooms they were comfortable in, according to a report and guide on transgender student issues published by the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Gender Spectrum and other organizations.

Kennewick board President Dawn Adams said during the board’s most recent meeting that there’s no reason to think transgender students wouldn’t do anything different from what other students would do in a restroom.

Board member Ron Mabry said gender-neutral bathroom options should still be available. He added later that segregated restrooms should also be open to transgender students, so long as it’s for the gender they identify with.

Vice President Heather Kintzley said that with the Human Rights Commission’s ruling “there’s not even room for debate” and the district will likely have to give transgender students access to segregated facilities.

Richland School Board President Rick Jansons said the commission’s ruling came as a surprise, but that his district is committed to following state law and keeping students safe.

Locker rooms are staffed, and Jansons hasn’t heard of any issues with accommodating transgender students, he said.

He also acknowledged familiarity with what transgender youth and their families go through, as he has a young relative who is a transgender man.

“Our experience is these kids don’t want attention drawn to them,” Jansons said.

That sentiment was echoed by DeVille and Southern.

“When I go to the restroom the last thing I’m thinking about is what’s in the other womens’ panties,” DeVille said. “I just need to pee.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Transgender bathroom rule likely to affect schools (with video)."