‘Deaths and pain’: Both sides worry about safety in JoCo schools’ trans bathroom debate

Most of the Gardner Edgerton school board on Monday said they support a proposal to prohibit transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

But after two months of contentious discussion, the board delayed a decision to first seek input from school staff.

“I am in support of … boys using the boys’ bathroom, girls using the girls’ bathroom,” board member Lana Sutton said during Monday’s packed meeting. “And having a separate bathroom available to all individuals regardless of their sex at birth, if they so choose it.”

Parents, community members and LGBTQ advocates spoke both for and against the proposed policy that would require transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their sex at birth. Students who refuse would be required to use unisex facilities.

The proposal is a toned-down version of a policy recommended in July by board member Jeff Miller, who suggested requiring teachers to use students’ birth pronouns. The board instead asked district staff and legal counsel to review options for a new policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas has warned the school board that such a policy would violate federal law and harm the district’s most vulnerable students.

In a letter, the ACLU wrote that, “While it appears that the Board made changes to address the most egregious parts of the prior draft, the amended policy still violates the rights of transgender students and places them at risk in your schools.”

The latest proposal states that employees should refer to students by their preferred names and pronouns. But it also asks staff to notify parents whenever a transgender student makes that request. The ACLU has warned against such parental notifications, worried that the practice could “out” LGBTQ students to their families against their consent.

“Truly, the board has a desire to create a safe and welcoming environment for all of our students,” Superintendent Brian Huff said. “We want to provide dignity for all students.”

Katie Williams, the lone progressive on the majority-conservative school board, argued that the proposal was setting up the district for discrimination lawsuits. She urged the district to survey students on the issue, plus form a committee, made up of LGBTQ students, parents, health care professionals and lawyers, to study the proposal. But she gained no support from the rest of the board.

She also voiced concerns that the high school offers only two gender neutral bathrooms, and they are also used by special education students. Williams suggested adding ceiling-to-floor doors on bathroom stalls.

Board President Tom Reddin argued that by allowing transgender students to use the facilities of their choice, there are a majority of “students who we are not protecting, if we let the boy go into the girls’ bathroom.”

“Protecting from what?” Williams responded.

“These girls aren’t going to be comfortable with the boy being in their bathroom,” Reddin said.

Despite several parents and board members citing safety concerns, research shows that allowing transgender people to use restrooms that align with their gender identity does not pose safety risks.

The discussion has sparked ongoing controversy in the district, with dozens of parents, students and residents flooding the school board chambers over the past couple of months to argue on both sides of the issue.

“It is my expectation that no teacher or administration is ever to keep any information from me about my child,” mother Melissa Hershey told the board. “A policy that allows or encourages teachers to hide things about my child is unacceptable.”

D.C. Hiegert, legal fellow with the ACLU of Kansas, told the school board that it “should not give in to this community fear-mongering because the law is on the side of your trans students.”

“The revised policy, as currently written, still runs afoul of established law,” the ACLU wrote in a letter to the board. “In particular, the policy still illegally forces transgender students to use the restroom or locker room based off their sex assigned at birth and increases the likelihood that trans students will be forcibly outed or deadnamed and misgendered at school.”

Gardner Edgerton High School teacher Jeffrey Cramer pleaded with the board not to adopt the policy, worried about the safety of his students.

“If the board passes the proposed guidelines toward trans students within our school district without serious thought or consideration toward the consequences, I’m fearful that it will lead to a possible traumatic and fatal conclusion,” Cramer said. “This kind of policy would be an outing policy and could do more harm than good. … And with an increasing teacher shortage, this could possibly be one more thing for teachers to be worried about termination if they did not disclose such information and keep a student from being outed.”

He urged the board to “make sure we are not making a mistake that could lead to more deaths and pain. We cannot stand to add more names to the list of students lost, simply because our community made a bad decision and completely twisted the way these students function, live and go about their daily lives.”

The school board ultimately decided to send out a survey to staff to gather input on the proposed policy. Huff said that developing the right policy will take time, and it is unclear when the board could vote on the matter.