Mackenzie Ryan

mryan@dmreg.com

Iowa schools offered a swift response to President's Obama's guidance Friday that transgender students must be allowed to use restrooms that reflect the gender they identify with.

They already do.

Since 2007, Iowa law has prohibited discrimination based on gender identity, and many schools have already made restroom and locker room accommodations, with some creating private restrooms and changing areas to meet the needs of their transgender students.

But the federal guidelines appear to take the requirement a step farther, requiring public schools to allow transgender students to have access to all restrooms and locker rooms associated with their gender identity. Private restrooms set aside for transgender students are not an acceptable workaround, the administration said.

Nate Monson, executive director of Iowa Safe Schools, which advocates for transgender youth, applauded the Obama administration's direction, which he said reinforces his group's efforts. “It’s making sure we are upholding the rights and dignity of all our students.”

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The Iowa Department of Education currently instructs public schools that they cannot force students to use a bathroom that reflects the gender of their birth if it does not reflect the gender they identify with. Absent a safety concern, schools should allow the use of a bathroom or locker room that reflects students' gender identity, said spokeswoman Staci Hupp.

In response, many schools have provided comparable facilities, such as identifying "gender-neutral" or "all-gender" bathroom, which often have a single stall.

“Those arrangements should be based on the student and parent wishes, and should be appropriate under the circumstances," Hupp said.

East High School is among those already allowing teens to use whichever bathroom they identify with, said Ryan Hawkins, faculty adviser of the student Gay/Straight Alliance at the Des Moines school.

“I think it’s amazing,” Hawkins said of Obama’s guidance to extend the practice to all public schools, adding: “I think that our school is very, very open to embracing students as transgender.”

Opposing the measures

Not all Iowans are in favor of such policies.

Nancy Pettit, a parent in the Tri-Center School District in southwest Iowa, said safety must be considered for students, especially girls or young women who may not want individuals who were born or look like males entering a female space.

As a physician's assistant at a crisis pregnancy center, she works with women who have been or are currently being sexually abused.

“Just reading about it, it’s calling up PTSD," she said of Obama's guidance Friday morning.

“It’s a safety issue; it’s not hate or bigotry,” she said. “These women who are abused, they don’t get a voice. There’s all these arguments about hurting the feelings of transgender people. But there are other people being hurt here.”

Bob Vander Plaats, president of The FAMiLY LEADER, said "there must be a better solution than having high school girls walk out of the showers exposed in front of biological males."

"The lack of compassion this edict shows for victims of sex abuse, in particular, is stunning," he said.

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Monson, who advocates for transgender youth, said that's why gender-neutral facilities "are so important." They're often private or single-occupancy facilities, which can benefit both transgender individuals as well as those who experience trauma triggers, among others.

But he rejected the idea that transgender students are "sexual predators," which "the extreme right likes to make this up to be," he said.

"Really, it's nobody's business what is between somebody's legs," he said.

Accommodating students

The Iowa Department of Education reminds schools that they must comply, referencing a Maine court that ordered a district to pay $75,000 for failing to allow a student to use a public bathroom that matched that student's gender identity.

Some have made additional accommodations. At Roosevelt High School, in Des Moines, two “all gender restrooms" opened this year for students who feel uncomfortable using a gender-specific bathroom.

Valley High School, in West Des Moines, also has gender-neutral bathrooms, Principal Tim Miller said.

Student Zoey Wagner spearheaded the Roosevelt effort, but said Friday that more work is needed — including addressing transgender students with the pronouns they prefer.

“I think we have the resources and the support, we just need the education. That’s the next step,” said Wagner, who is not transgender.

Metro-area educators said they've heard few concerns since the federal guidance was issued Friday morning. Des Moines schools did not receive any calls from parents expressing concern, said spokeswoman Amanda Lewis.

But some said students in smaller towns or more rural areas aren't always met with the same support. After news ran about Roosevelt's bathrooms, Wagner said teens reached out to say they wished their school had a gender-neutral option.

In addition, Monson said rural schools often share concerns with him about the targeting of transgender students.

“They’re probably the only trans kids that are out, for quite a radius,” he said.

“Often these kids are afraid,” Monson said. While some will use a restroom in a nurse’s office, others don’t speak up. “I can’t imagine what that’s like, to hold it in for six to seven hours. That’s very painful.”

Staff Writer Charly Haley contributed to this report.

Accommodating transgender students

The federal departments of education and justice issued joint guidance Friday, linking federal funds to a school's agreement not to exclude or treat transgender students differently. Iowa's current requirements are similar.

The agencies define gender identity as an "internal sense of gender" that "may be different than the gender they were assigned at birth."

That includes:

Forbidding schools from requiring medical diagnosis or identification documents that reflect a student's gender identity.

Allowing transgender students access to restrooms and locker rooms associated with their gender identity, although schools may provide private or single-stall facilities to those who voluntarily seek them.

Allowing transgender students to access housing consistent with their gender identity, but not requiring transgender students to stay in single-occupancy rooms.

In a separate document, examples of accommodation include: