SARASOTA, FL (WFLA) – A big and controversial announcement came from the White House on Friday morning. The Obama Administration is directing schools across the country to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.
U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said, “No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus.”
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said, “There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex. This guidance gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies.”
This news is a big victory for Pine View School senior Nate Quinn. For months, Quinn has led the charge, trying to spur the creation of a transgender bathroom policy. When he heard the news this morning, he was elated. He said, “I see our country really going towards equality and that’s really good.”
Quinn sees this as a victory in a modern day civil rights movement. Quinn said, “I think in 40 years when we’re looking at this issue we’re going to look at it exactly the same way as segregation.”
But folks like Pastor Jared Gritton disagree. He said, “It’s concerning. It’s concerning about what this is going to lead our nation into, where it’s going to lead the next generation.”
Gritton worries for the students at his church.
He said, “I feel like it’s an attack on biblical morality, as well as on safety, privacy, there’s a lot of concerns there that we have with it.”
Gritton feels people can take advantage of this policy to do harm. Take this for example, in 2013 KNBC in Los Angeles reported that a man dressed as a woman to take lewd photos in a women’s restroom.
Gritton said, “It’s not just with the transgenders themselves, but what it brings with it.”
Quinn feels people should not live in fear. Quinn said, “Rapists don’t care about laws, so if laws change that’s not gonna change their mindset because they’re breaking laws no matter what.”
Quinn added, “I don’t think people should be afraid. I think this is actually a lot safer option, having everybody feel comfortable.”
And now he’s happy younger transgender students won’t have the struggles he faced. Late in the day, the Sarasota County school board released a statement saying in part that they will continue to handle these on a case-by-case basis.
Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler said, “This is another example of the gross overreach of government into the education of children.”
She said this is a subject that should be discussed at the local and state level, and she expects this is a subject that a higher court may take up one day. Ziegler said the school board will discuss this transgender bathroom issue at a future meeting.
