Schools' transgender policies increasingly in focus

Following on the heels of a high-profile debate at JCPS' Atherton High School over which bathroom transgender students should be allowed to use, the issue continues to resonate among schools, students and lawmakers in Kentucky.

Last year, Atherton High withstood complaints and appeals against its nondiscrimination policy, which in parts bars discrimination of school spaces by gender identity. In practice, that means transgender students at the school can use the bathroom and locker room facilities of their gender identities.

In response to the high-profile controversy, Kentucky State Sen. C.B. Embry Jr. sponsored a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would ban transgender students from using school bathrooms that don't match their anatomical sex, and would allow students to sue schools for $2,500 if a school fails to prohibit a student from using a bathroom or locker room of the opposite biological sex.

This week, a Madisonville-North Hopkins High School student created a petition demanding that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice and not be relegated to a handicap restroom that they are now being asked to use. According to a story in The Messenger, the petition has more than 50 signatures, and also asks that teachers call students by their chosen pronoun.

And duPont Manual High School student Casey Hoke, who is a contributing blogger on HuffPost Teen, this week published a blog post on that site titled "I'm a Transgender Teen and Which Restroom I Use is None of Your Business."

"When I and many other out transgender individuals use the restroom, we are there to take care of our business wherever we deem comfortable for our identities and expression," Hoke writes in the piece. "We're just like everyone else."

This is certainly a topic The Courier-Journal will continue to watch. For more, read our recent article on how JCPS is grappling with LGBT issues. And share your thoughts by commenting on this blog post or tweeting me at @allisonSross.