there’s a new battleground in this
gender revolution bathrooms and nowhere
is that battle more heated than in
public schools now even the Supreme
Court is set to weigh in on the case of
gavin grimm a transgender student in
virginia who’s fighting for the right to
use the bathroom that corresponds to the
gender he identifies as not the gender
he was assigned at birth I’m not looking
for separate but equal I’m looking for
the same opportunities that my peers
enjoy every single day and that includes
using the same restroom as any other
student but one school in South Central
LA is already forging ahead the Santee
education complex high school in 2016 it
opened what’s considered the nation’s
first gender neutral multi stall
restroom a cause for celebration for
some a lightning rod for others Santee
is part of the LA Unified School
District which represents nearly 1,100
schools and more than 640,000 students
it’s a district that’s been on the
frontlines of this issue for years the
LA Unified School District has had
transgender affirming policies since
2005 that was more than a decade before
President Obama told schools across the
country to open their bathrooms to
transgender students or face losing
federal funds the policy that we wrote
10 years ago was inspired by a family
with a transgender first grader the
policy is actually pretty simple that
our transgender students can access all
facilities based on their affirmed
gender identity in LA Unified a student
who is transgender can change their name
their pronoun and access facilities it’s
a whole new world for educators so LA
Unified trains them and everything from
roll call in homeroom diplomas at
graduation and yes the question of who
can use which bathroom so we’re gonna do
a little test there’s gonna be some
slides to come up and I just want you to
call out the people in the slide what is
the bathroom that you would probably
direct them to so if a student named
John comes back from spring vacation
and says my name is April and I would
like you to refer to me by she and her
we sit down with it student usually a
counselor will talk to them and ask them
what’s going on how long have you been
feeling like this we make a plan with
that student what is it that you need do
you want to change how you’re known at
school completely do you want us to
change the name on the roster which are
things that we’re capable of doing when
a student is transitioning and they meet
with their school and they talk about
their identity as something that is
affirmed is deeply rooted it is
consistent it is persistent you can’t be
transgender just for fifth period PE to
have access to the locker room we would
not allow that because it needs to be
genuine and if the administrator has a
reasonable suspicion that the request is
not legitimate they do not have to honor
it the situation of a student a male
student interestingly we only seem to
worry about our male students but a male
student pretend to be transgender so he
can for predatory reasons have access to
a female facility I think that’s rather
ridiculous I’ve heard all kinds of fears
expressed just through the media none of
those fears have ever been realized ever
we have never had the type of fearful
misconduct that people talk about with
our transgender students that has never
happened
last year I got 17 phone calls in three
days from elementary schools mind you
that had transgendered students whose
parents wanted them to be able to attend
schools authentically there’s so many
more students who are coming out now
just because of the the national
conversation when we talk to families we
can tell them we will be one of the most
affirming school districts in the
country it’s a promise that I am
fortunate to be able to make on behalf
of all of us I do believe that as a
country we need to make space for people
who have more fluidity around their
gender or people who are transgender
kind of break that rigidity so I believe
that as a school district and as the
community and as people who care about
others that the more that we can do to
help people be more of who they are the
more they’re going to be able to be
engaged in their education follow their
dreams and be more of who they are our
goal is to help people be more of where
they are not less
you
gender revolution bathrooms and nowhere
is that battle more heated than in
public schools now even the Supreme
Court is set to weigh in on the case of
gavin grimm a transgender student in
virginia who’s fighting for the right to
use the bathroom that corresponds to the
gender he identifies as not the gender
he was assigned at birth I’m not looking
for separate but equal I’m looking for
the same opportunities that my peers
enjoy every single day and that includes
using the same restroom as any other
student but one school in South Central
LA is already forging ahead the Santee
education complex high school in 2016 it
opened what’s considered the nation’s
first gender neutral multi stall
restroom a cause for celebration for
some a lightning rod for others Santee
is part of the LA Unified School
District which represents nearly 1,100
schools and more than 640,000 students
it’s a district that’s been on the
frontlines of this issue for years the
LA Unified School District has had
transgender affirming policies since
2005 that was more than a decade before
President Obama told schools across the
country to open their bathrooms to
transgender students or face losing
federal funds the policy that we wrote
10 years ago was inspired by a family
with a transgender first grader the
policy is actually pretty simple that
our transgender students can access all
facilities based on their affirmed
gender identity in LA Unified a student
who is transgender can change their name
their pronoun and access facilities it’s
a whole new world for educators so LA
Unified trains them and everything from
roll call in homeroom diplomas at
graduation and yes the question of who
can use which bathroom so we’re gonna do
a little test there’s gonna be some
slides to come up and I just want you to
call out the people in the slide what is
the bathroom that you would probably
direct them to so if a student named
John comes back from spring vacation
and says my name is April and I would
like you to refer to me by she and her
we sit down with it student usually a
counselor will talk to them and ask them
what’s going on how long have you been
feeling like this we make a plan with
that student what is it that you need do
you want to change how you’re known at
school completely do you want us to
change the name on the roster which are
things that we’re capable of doing when
a student is transitioning and they meet
with their school and they talk about
their identity as something that is
affirmed is deeply rooted it is
consistent it is persistent you can’t be
transgender just for fifth period PE to
have access to the locker room we would
not allow that because it needs to be
genuine and if the administrator has a
reasonable suspicion that the request is
not legitimate they do not have to honor
it the situation of a student a male
student interestingly we only seem to
worry about our male students but a male
student pretend to be transgender so he
can for predatory reasons have access to
a female facility I think that’s rather
ridiculous I’ve heard all kinds of fears
expressed just through the media none of
those fears have ever been realized ever
we have never had the type of fearful
misconduct that people talk about with
our transgender students that has never
happened
last year I got 17 phone calls in three
days from elementary schools mind you
that had transgendered students whose
parents wanted them to be able to attend
schools authentically there’s so many
more students who are coming out now
just because of the the national
conversation when we talk to families we
can tell them we will be one of the most
affirming school districts in the
country it’s a promise that I am
fortunate to be able to make on behalf
of all of us I do believe that as a
country we need to make space for people
who have more fluidity around their
gender or people who are transgender
kind of break that rigidity so I believe
that as a school district and as the
community and as people who care about
others that the more that we can do to
help people be more of who they are the
more they’re going to be able to be
engaged in their education follow their
dreams and be more of who they are our
goal is to help people be more of where
they are not less
you
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