Montclair groping allegations rekindle debate about all-gender bathrooms

Show Caption Hide Caption Tree removed from Central Avenue in Montclair NJ The remains of a tree are scooped up on Central Avenue in Montclair.

An alleged sexual crime in a gender-neutral bathroom at Montclair High School last week has rekindled a debate about school policies that set aside bathrooms for use by all genders.

Authorities said they were investigating allegations that a male student inappropriately touched a female student during school hours on May 14. The alleged incident took place in a former boys' bathroom that was designated "all-gender" in 2016 after students campaigned and petitioned for the change.

Some Montclair residents turned to social media to decry the policy of shared bathrooms, but others defended it or said it was unrelated to the incident that is alleged to have taken place.

“It’s not about a gender-neutral bathroom,” said Elizabeth Birge, 57, whose daughter is a Montclair High School sophomore. “It’s about sexual conduct. That could happen anywhere with anyone.”

“I’m afraid it’s going to give people who are uncomfortable with the presence of that bathroom ammunition to have it removed," she said, "and that’s a shame, because it’s an important need.”

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Some parents said their issue with the bathroom was the fact that all students — boys and girls — are allowed to share the facility.

"I told my son, 'Stay out of it,' " said Frienshetta Chinn, the parent of a 10th-grader. "To me, it’s opening the door for a lot of things to happen. I think it’s a bad idea."

Chinn said she would not mind a policy allowing transgender students to use the bathroom based on their gender identity, or to use a single-occupancy bathroom open to anyone — policies that have been employed at other schools. She said she understands that transgender students need to feel safe and comfortable. Rather, she said she was concerned about a multi-stall facility being open to anyone.

"You don’t only have only transgender kids in there. You have straight kids going in there to get a look," she said, adding: "I just don’t think it should be shared."

The students who advocated for the bathroom argued at the time that that gender-neutral restrooms would allow young people who are transgender or "gender-nonconforming" to feel more comfortable and less afraid. Varying policies have been put in place in schools, government buildings and institutions across the country about bathrooms to accommodate people who are transgender, meaning they don't identify with the gender assigned to them at birth.

Many districts, like the Pascack Valley Regional High School district, developed policies that allow transgender students to use restrooms or locker rooms based on their gender identity. Some dedicated single bathrooms for use by all genders. But the Montclair district, in a town known for its progressive politics, went further, designating a first-floor bathroom with urinals and a stall as all-gender.

The push for an all-gender bathroom gained momentum in April 2016 when a student, Alexis Dickerson, then a sophomore, posted a petition online calling for open bathrooms that garnered more than 1,600 signatures.

"In order for Montclair High School to be a more LGBT friendly high school, steps to protect its trans youth need to be taken," she wrote at the time. "If a child can not even feel protected in their own school, then what does that reflect about society."

"Access to privileges so minuscule as the bathroom are fundamental rights that should not be shrouded in controversy or restricted and denied to any individual," she added.

The president and vice president of the Montclair school board declined to comment about the alleged incident or the all-gender bathroom policy. Schools Superintendent Kendra Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.

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Parents learned of the alleged incident in an email from Montclair High School Principal James Earle on Wednesday. He said security had been increased while the matter is being investigated.

"The safety of our students is of primary concern," Earle said.

No charges have been filed and an investigation is ongoing, said Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The allegations involve sexual contact, or "intentional, non-consensual touching" of a sexual nature, either directly or through the clothing. Both students are minors.

Daniel Schapiro, a senior at Montclair High School, said a security guard has been stationed at the door to the bathroom since the alleged incident was reported.

A former co-president of the school’s Gay Straight Alliance, Schapiro had advocated for an all-gender bathroom, prompting the school to relabel a former boys' restroom, which he said contains three urinals and one stall, as an all-gender bathroom.

“Multiple schools in the state have had success with their gender-neutral bathrooms,” said Schapiro, 18. “We should keep that bathroom there, and keep that going.”

Many colleges and universities already have gender-neutral bathrooms. In some places, they are single-user bathrooms, similar to dedicated “family restrooms" typically used by caretakers or parents of any gender.

Dinean Robinson, co-chairwoman of the Northern New Jersey chapter of GLSEN, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ students, said the focus after the incident at Montclair High School should be on the allegations and not the bathroom.

"Unfortunately, this is not about the location of where an assault took place," Robinson said. "The fact is that there is a student who may have been assaulted. That’s what people need to focus on. And the sad truth is that these kinds of assaults happen in a lot of places, as we've seen in recent news across our country."

Christian Fuscarino, executive director of Garden State Equality, the state's largest gay-rights group, echoed that sentiment.

"All allegations of sexual assault must be taken with the utmost seriousness, and we appreciate the diligence of Montclair School District administrators and local law enforcement in investigating the alleged incident," he said in a statement. "Given that we only have access to the very limited details released to the public we are not in a position to comment on the investigation itself but state emphatically that there is no evidence that sexual assault occurs with any more frequency in all-gender or gender-neutral facilities than it does in sex-segregated facilities."

Socially conservative organizations like Focus on the Family have opposed a number of so-called bathroom bills catering to transgender people that have been taken up by state legislatures. Candi Cushman, director of education issues at Focus on the Family, said the case in Montclair showed the risks involved with such policies.

"As this case demonstrates, risks with students being vulnerable in bathrooms are not hypothetical and need to be treated as very serious concerns," she said. "The fact is, students have a right to bodily privacy, and there is no discrimination in protecting young children from inappropriate exposure."

School officials, she said, could accommodate students in other ways, for instance by offering access to a single-stall bathroom or "controlled" use of a faculty bathroom, locker room or shower.

"Like everyone else, individuals struggling with their gender identity need to be treated with kindness and compassion and protected from harm and harassment," Cushman added. "At the same time, schools need to equally affirm the right of all students to have appropriate physical privacy and boundaries that allow them to feel safe."

Laura Sweet, the parent of junior at Montclair High School and an eighth-grader at Buzz Aldrin Middle School, hadn’t heard about the incident last week, but she was aware of the gender-neutral bathroom. Told about what happened, Sweet said, it would not affect her support for the gender-neutral bathroom.

“I think it’s OK to have a unisex bathroom, as long as there are other single-gender bathrooms for students who are more comfortable with that,” said Sweet, 49. “It seems like a good solution: serving multiple needs so everyone has a choice.”

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