[News] [WI, USA] Transgender bill raises concerns

[Stephanie Stevens]

The Post-Crescent, WI, USA


Transgender bill raises concerns

• A proposed law would ban transgender students from using bathrooms of the gender they identify with.
• Most local public schools would have to change nondiscrimination policies if the law is passed.
• Some lawmakers are concerned the bill violates federal nondiscrimination law, known as Title IX.

Jen Zettel, Post-Crescent Media

7:16 a.m. CDT October 10, 2015


Fox Cities school officials are in a holding pattern until the Legislature acts on a bill that would prohibit transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with.

Most public schools in the region have measures in place that prohibit discrimination of students based on gender identity. Neenah and Little Chute are the only districts that don't mention gender identity in nondiscrimination policies.

In April, the Menasha school board approved a policy that allowed transgender and gender nonconforming students to use restrooms and locker rooms for the gender they identify with. The Kaukauna school board approved a similar policy last month.

Transgender people identify with a different gender than the one their biological sex assigned them at birth. Gender nonconforming people express their gender in ways that differ from prevailing social expectations.

Menasha superintendent Chris VanderHeyden said the school board and administration are waiting to see what lawmakers decide.

"Certainly we'll be paying attention to what comes of this bill," he said. "Whether it will cause us to revise our policy or not will certainly be a board decision as we move forward. It would require us to do something differently than we're currently doing."

The proposed legislation seems to oversimplify "gender assigned at birth," Appleton Superintendent Lee Allinger said in an email to Post-Crescent Media.

"The complexity of biology involved when assigning gender and ones emerging gender identification needs to be considered prior to any legislative action," he said. "We welcome a serious conversation with our local legislators about how the proposed legislation could negatively affect the work that we do in our schools to ensure that all students feel respected and honored."

The bill, authored by Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, and Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, would require school boards to designate restrooms and locker rooms for only one sex. Sex is defined "as the physical condition of being male or female, as determined by an individual's chromosomes and identified at birth by that individual's anatomy," according to the proposed legislation.

The bill allows transgender and gender nonconforming students to request special accommodations, such as use of a unisex restroom or changing area.

School leaders across Wisconsin have the issue on their minds, as VanderHeyden can attest. After Menasha's policy passed, he fielded calls from more than a dozen administrators.

"There are a lot of schools that are starting to ask about these (policies) and a lot of schools that are starting to work on these policies around the state of Wisconsin. Other superintendents in the area and in the state have reached out to talk about what resources we referred to as we were going through the process," he said.

Kremer and Nass said in a memo seeking co-sponsorship of the bill that recent incidents made it necessary to develop a statewide policy to deal with the issue.

"This bill reinforces the societal norm in our schools that students born biologically male must not be allowed to enter facilities designated for biological females and vice versa," the memo stated.

Rep. Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, said he understands the concerns of both sides. He said he would have questions if his daughter were in high school and a transgender girl was using the same locker room.

"I know transgender students are going through incredibly difficult times trying to find their way and trying to find their spot in the school," he said. "We don't want to add anything that would make them feel any more outcast than they might already feel. Also we want to make sure the other students in the school have their needs and privacy respected, as well."

Some are concerned that the bill might violate Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally-funded schools. Under the law, students cannot be discriminated against based on their gender identities, according to U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

The proposal advanced by Kremer and Nass allows parents to file a complaint if they feel a school district committed a violation. The school board must investigate the complaints and return a response within 30 days. If the family is not satisfied with the answer, they can take legal action, according to the provisions of the bill.

"If enacted, this will wind up costing the state thousands upon thousands of dollars to defend in federal court, where it will be struck down as being a violation of federal law," Rep. Amanda Stuck, D-Appleton, said in a statement to Post-Crescent Media.

Speaking as the leader of the Fox Valley LGBT Anti-Violence Project, Kathy Flores said she's worried the policy will lead to more discrimination of transgender and gender nonconforming students. Flores is also Appleton's diversity and inclusion coordinator.

"I think it's mean-spirited and I'm more concerned about the violence it's going to encourage against transgender people who really just need to use the bathroom," she said.


http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/education/2015/10/10/transgender-bill-raises-concerns/73537458/