JUDY WOODRUFF: Public schools in this country are caught in
the middle of a political debate over bathrooms.
The Obama administration says restricting
a transgender student’s access to restrooms
and locker rooms based on biological sex is
discrimination and can be grounds for withholding
funding.
But that directive has set off some angry
reaction. Kentucky is one state where many
leaders don’t agree with the president.
And we look at how one school in Louisville
decided to act proactively before the bigger
debate began.
Special correspondent Yasmeen Qureshi of Education
Week has the story. It’s part of our weekly
education series, Making the Grade.
YASMEEN QURESHI: What’s it like to question
your gender?
MADDIE DALTON, Student, Atherton High School:
It’s a little bit scary in the very beginning,
I suppose, because you know that you’re
going to have to face a lot of discrimination.
Like, go through the YouTube comments on any
video about trans people, and you will see,
like, just how many people are still, like,
openly hostile to this idea.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Seventeen-year-old Maddie
Dalton is transgender. She says she’s always
been a girl, but didn’t know it.
CASSANDRA KASEY, Parent: Forever, she had
that little widow’s peak.
YASMEEN QURESHI: She came out to her parents
when she was 15 years old.
CASSANDRA KASEY: It was chaotic at first.
And the way I felt it in the very beginning,
when I was still coming to terms with it,
was, if I had a friend who came to me and
said that their child had come out to them
as transgender, I would have thought, hooray.
You know, your — this young person is becoming
who they are.
So, why would I not afford my own child that
same — that same blessing? So, even though
it was difficult, it was the only right thing
to do.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Maddie is a junior at Atherton
High School in Louisville, Kentucky. She was
the first openly transgender student at the
school.
MADDIE DALTON: I was a little bit hesitant
right at first, but I knew that, being at
Atherton, I would be — I would be pretty
safe.
YASMEEN QURESHI: A public high school with
about 1,300 students, Atherton is one of the
highest-ranked schools in the state. It’s
known for its international studies program
and as a place where diversity is embraced.
TONY PRINCE, Teacher, Atherton High School:
Developing a safe climate for students is
fundamental. And I think that we did — we
were doing that here before we ever started
on the transgender issue.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Humanities teacher Tony Prince
supervises the school’s LGBT student group.
Maddie confided in him about her newly realized
gender identity.
TONY PRINCE: I asked her what that means.
You know, what would the school look like
to her if it were accepting of her as a transgender
person? And so she wrote a little list of
things.
MADDIE DALTON: I wanted it to be enforced
that students and teachers should use my name
and pronouns and to use the space that I identify
with, so bathrooms and locker rooms.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Atherton didn’t have a
protocol for transgender students. The decision
was left to principal Dr. Thomas Aberli.
THOMAS ABERLI, Principal, Atherton High School:
Our school protects all students, and that
the issue of gender identity has simply been
a demonstration of the school’s commitment
to respecting all individuals in our school.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Aberli agreed to Maddie’s
requests and, after much consideration, so
did the school council, making it the first
school in Kentucky to adopt an official policy
for transgender students.
MAN: This policy is completely disregarding
the privacy of all of their students.
YASMEEN QURESHI: A group of parents, students
and community members publicly objected and
hired an attorney to appeal the decision.
WOMAN: The girls at this school expect to
be able to go into a restroom and feel safe.
Because of this policy, we no longer have
that assurance.
YASMEEN QURESHI: The group called for transgender
students to use a private or unisex bathroom.
Why would that be a problem for you?
MADDIE DALTON: First of all, it makes you
a target for bullying and, like, harassment.
It puts it in everyone’s minds that you
are different, and you are something to be
looked at, not as, like, a person, but as
whatever characteristic is differentiating
you, like being trans.
YASMEEN QURESHI: After months of debate at
Atherton High School, the policy was upheld,
but the opposition didn’t stop there.
KENT OSTRANDER, Executive Director, The Family
Foundation: Young ladies, girls, may not want
a biological male in their bathroom. That’s
kind of the traditional way we have done things
since the founding of this nation.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Kent Ostrander is the director
of The Family Foundation of Kentucky, a conservative
advocacy organization. Last year, it supported
a statewide bill that would have overturned
Atherton’s policy. But it was never passed
into law.
KENT OSTRANDER: The legislation simply said
that schools could do all kinds of accommodations
for their students, including transgender
students. But the one thing that they could
not do is put — is mix the biological sexes
in a bathroom, a locker room at the same time.
SUZANNE ECKES, Indiana University: According
to guidelines coming from the U.S. Department
of education and the U.S. Department of Justice,
that is discrimination.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Education policy professor
Suzanne Eckes is referring to a letter the
Obama administration sent to schools last
month. It directed them to allow transgender
students access to bathrooms and locker rooms
based on their gender identity.
SUZANNE ECKES: The department has interpreted
gender identity to fall under the Title IX
law, which prohibits discrimination based
on sex. We don’t have a lot of court guidance
on it. So, if you’re in a state that has
no litigation on this particular topic, the
only thing you really have to go on is the
recent “Dear Colleague” letter.
YASMEEN QURESHI: However, several Republican
state leaders are advising schools to ignore
the guidance, putting them at risk of losing
federal funding.
KENT OSTRANDER: Why does there have to be
a new federal government law telling everybody
how they’re going to do the bathrooms? That’s
just crazy. Why is the federal government
interested in bathrooms?
Because states can make that decision on their
own. Parents can make that decision.
SUZANNE ECKES: I don’t think this is a Democrat
or Republican or liberal or conservative issue.
This is a civil rights issue. This isn’t
a states’ rights issue. This is a civil
rights issue. Transgender students, for years,
have been ostracized in public schools.
YASMEEN QURESHI: Nearly half of transgender
teens report having suicidal thoughts. And
their rates of depression and anxiety are
far higher than the average.
MAN: Good morning, Atherton High School.
YASMEEN QURESHI: It’s been over two years
since Atherton High School adopted its bathroom
policy, and several students at the school
have since come out as transgender.
Principal Aberli says that, despite early
objections to the policy, most students have
embraced it.
NATALIE STASTNY, Student, Atherton High School:
It’s just going to the bathroom. You go
do your business, then you wash your hands,
and then you leave. It’s just simple. And
when people make a big deal about it, it just
kind of gets blown out of proportion.
NIJA MACKEY, Student, Atherton High School:
Coming from, like, a religious background,
like, I am Christian, and people don’t necessarily
agree with that type of stuff. But I have
been going to this school for two years, and
it’s just routine. Like, everyone gets to
the restroom, everyone gets out. It’s nothing,
nothing. It’s not a big deal.
DR. THOMAS ABERLI: Something I struggled with
originally was just understanding the difference
between what it meant to discriminate vs.
accommodate when it came to this issue. If
any student said that they were uncomfortable
with using a restroom, then they can choose
an alternate restroom.
But we’re not to compel other people to
act differently just because they make someone
else feel uncomfortable. That is not what
our country is about. That is not a right
to privacy.
YASMEEN QURESHI: The school provides access
to private faculty restrooms for any student
who requests it.
MADDIE DALTON: It all comes down to being
respected as a person and accepted. Now, that’s
all relying on the fundamental assumption
that you respect being transgender as a legitimate,
like, concept, as a legitimate thing. And
I think that’s where most of the trouble
comes in.
YASMEEN QURESHI: In Louisville, Kentucky,
this is Yasmeen Qureshi of Education Week
reporting for the “PBS NewsHour.”
