Milford discusses school restroom and locker room use: gender identity vs. biological sex
Feb. 2—The Milford School Board on Monday will review a proposal to reinstate student restroom and locker room use according to biological sex, after complaints from a female middle-school student and parents who believe girls' privacy is violated by transgender students sharing the same facilities.
A formal vote may follow discussion at the board's meeting at 7 p.m., Milford School Superintendent Christi Michaud said.
The topic sparked impassioned debate at the board's Nov. 7 meeting, which drew about 120 residents, roughly 20 of whom spoke.
Legal representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and Cornerstone spoke for and against the district's current procedures, which give students access to restrooms according to the gender identities they consistently express at school.
Rep. Peter Petrigno, D-Milford, advocated for policies that avoid prejudice, discrimination or marginalization of any humans.
"The LGBTQ+ community have been told their place is in the closet. Those days are gone,'" Petrigno said.
Samia DiMarco, a parent of girls in the middle and elementary schools, said she agrees that transgender students have the right to feel safe. But "the girls have rights, too," she said, including feeling secure when using bathrooms or changing out of their clothes.
Michaud said the district has received one complaint about the situation, related to a student at the middle school.
"All other members of our transgender community utilize a gender-neutral space," Michaud said.
Currently, locker room use by transgender students is evaluated case by case to ensure their safety, comfort and equal access to sports and gym and to minimize stigmatization, according to rules on the district's website. Private restrooms and changing areas (or separate changing times) are available on request.
The proposal to return to the biological-sex policy "was not a random topic, or pushed through, but was brought before the board after a multitude of research," said Nate Wheeler, school board vice chair, who proposed the change.
Around the topic of privacy for girls in bathrooms and locker rooms, "the concerns were strong enough" that some parents pulled their children out of school, Wheeler stated by email.
School board Chair Judy Zaino said the "overwhelming sentiment" in the fall was to continue current procedures, which comply with state and federal law. Recent emails "tend to support what's now in place. In all fairness, this is an issue that stimulates passion on both sides."
A rally of LGBTQ+ advocates and residents is planned for Monday at 6 p.m. before the meeting.
Linds Jakows, an LGBTQ+ advocate representing 603 Equality, is optimistic that the district will keep its current protocols, which Jakows believes are gender-affirming and nondiscriminatory.
"The core issue is that people need to learn to respect people who are different, rather than keep them in their own separate pods," Jakows said.
According to an ACLU-NH report, 48 of the state's 196 school districts had transgender student policies in September 2020. An updated count was unavailable. A Centers for Disease Control survey in 2017 estimated that 1.8% of high school students were transgender.
"It feels like people are uncomfortable with transgender people and have gotten into the myth that trans people are a threat to privacy more than people who are not trans," Jakows said. "That hasn't played out. Trans people go in and out of restrooms and value their privacy just like anyone else."
At a recent legislative hearing on House Bill 396, DiMarco said her middle-school daughter and her friends were harassed in the girls locker room by a transgender student and companions who identified as animals. The transgender student also urinated in the middle school girls' restroom with the stall door open, DiMarco said.
"Our state needs clear guidelines. If you have male body parts, you should use male facilities or an available unisex bathroom," she testified.
At Milford's school board meeting Nov. 7, Ian Huyett, general counsel for Cornerstone, a Christian organization, said that a clarification of Title IX federal law by the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg stated that, because of privacy and health and development concerns, girls should be allowed to have restrooms and locker rooms that are designated for females.
