Education

LGBT Advocates: BCSD Could Face Legal Action By Not Accommodating Transgender Students

by Nikki Gaskins Campbell

Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

Via We Are Family/Twitter
Via We Are Family/Twitter

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–On Tuesday night, dozens of people packed the inside of Berkeley Elementary School to speak in favor as well as against the school district’s decision to recently allow transgender students to use the restroom in which they identify with.

“This is about much more than bathrooms. It’s about trans students being safe and feeling respected in school,” tweeted We Are Family, an organization which directly supports  leadership development opportunities for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in the lowcountry.

Sophie Sorenson, a Berkeley County mother, came the meeting because she’s worried about the safety of her third grade daughter.

“She could be sharing bathrooms and eventually locker rooms with much older boys who identify as girls and I’m not okay with that,” Sorenson told Live 5 News.

Board members met behind closed doors in executive session to discuss the issue further. They ultimately decided that transgender students will be allowed to use the bathroom with which they identify on a case by case basis.

In the meantime, the board said it plans to seek more definitive information from the federal government since a solid decision was not reached by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

Via We Are Family/Twitter
Via We Are Family/Twitter

On April 19, 2016, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals which includes South Carolina in its jurisdiction, rendered a decision that transgender students shall be allowed to use the restroom for the gender with which they identify.

The court relied on the federal Title IX law and an opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office as basis for their conclusion.

“To comply with the Fourth Circuit’s ruling, our transgender students were individually offered access to restrooms for the gender with which they identify,” read a statement by the school board. In keeping with our legal and professional responsibility to maintain the privacy rights of all of our students, school administrators have worked with students, and their parents, to address these matters on a case by case basis.”

According to the school board’s attorney, that ruling could still be overturned. As a result, school board members say they’re not going to support either side of the issue just yet.

However, those in support of transgender rights, say the school district could very well open themselves up to lawsuits if trans students are denied fair accommodations.
Nikki Gaskins Campbell
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