Oh When Will They Ever Learn

You would think by now that by know school boards would know that it is illegal to discriminate against trans-students. The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice have issued many warnings that it is against Title IX to not recognize the gender of trans-students but school boards continue to ignore the directives.

Gloucester School Board OKs policy restricting transgender students from using boys' restroom
Daily Press
By Frances Hubbard
December 9, 2014

The Gloucester County School Board approved a policy on bathroom use Tuesday night that restricts transgender students to either single-stall restrooms or the restrooms designated for their biological gender.
[…]
The vote was 6-1. Board member Kim Hensley voted against the motion. Voting for it were board members Carla Hook, Randy Burak, Kevin Smith, Charles Records, Troy Anderson and Anita Parker.
There were a number of people speaking against the policy, including some who you wouldn’t think would be against the policy,
[…]
"This issue is the civil rights issue of this generation and we've got to treat everybody fairly," said Pastor Fred Carter. "We have no advantage in leaving a child out. ... Who are we to judge?"

"How would you want this handled if it was your child?" Mark Farina asked. "My son is no more threatened by this young man than any other young man that walks in the bathroom."

And it was pointed out that the new policy was a violation of Title IX but the school board thumbed it nose at the law…

School Board member Records said the board should not be fearful of the ACLU or the Department of Justice.

But one board member got it right, Kim Hensley said that "The answer is not this motion, the answer is privacy," and she is exactly right. Everyone has the right to privacy. The days of open locker rooms and showers are over. Back in the early 70s when I went to college all the dorms had individual shower stalls. They were like bathroom stalls but has a seat and a hook to hang your clothes and a curtain to separate the shower from the changing area in the stall.

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Bilerico has an article about lessons learned in Michigan equal rights bill and the author Brynn Tannehill got it right…

1.) Conservatives falsely claim that gender identity is already protected.
2.) Dividing and conquering over transgender inclusion remains a viable strategy for anti-LGBT conservatives.
3.) New conservative talking point: Refusing to leave the trans community behind is "radical," "left-wing."
4.) Conservatives always have the "religious freedom" poison pill to fall back on.
5.) LGBT organizations took 2007 to heart.
6.) Be careful who you let into the tent.

I urge you to go and read the full article; she goes into detail on all six takeaways. Especially number six, when we were trying to pass the gender inclusive anti-discrimination bill we wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page.

We have to learn from our wins and losses because the conservatives are also learning.