Law & Courts

N.C. Law Restricts Transgender Student Restroom Access

By Evie Blad — March 29, 2016 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

North Carolina last week became the first state to set restrictions on the restrooms and locker rooms that transgender students use at public schools after lawmakers included those policies in a bill that passed in a whirlwind one-day special session.

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory acted swiftly to sign the measure—over the protests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy groups—setting the stage for potential legal conflicts between the state’s schools and the U.S. Department of Education, which has said that public schools are required to honor transgender students’ gender identity under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

The legislation drew greater national attention for its other provisions, which nullify a local anti-discrimination ordinance set to go into effect in Charlotte, ban such measures in other cities, and require operators of all public buildings to use a person’s biological sex—defined as the sex indicated on their birth certificate—to determine which single-sex restrooms they can access.

The bill passed the state Senate 32-0 after Democrats walked out in protest. Earlier, it passed the House 82-26.

Privacy Concerns

In a statement that focused largely on the Charlotte ordinance, which was intended to protect LGBT residents from discrimination, including discrimination in which public restrooms they are allowed to use, McCrory said such policies violate the “basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room.”

Lawmakers who spoke in favor of the bill said the definition of biological sex is less ambiguous than that of gender identity, and that men with bad intentions might pose as transgender women to gain access to girls’ restrooms if access isn’t limited by biological sex.

But parents, community leaders, and a transgender student told lawmakers the provision in the bill that requires school boards to adopt policies limiting access to facilities would only further stigmatize transgender students, who already struggle with high rates of dropping out of school, suicide, and depression. And the North Carolina ACLU quickly vowed to challenge the measure.

Sky Thomson, a 15-year-old transgender boy, told lawmakers that forbidding him and his peers from using the boys’ restroom “gives bullies all the more reason to pick on us.”

“Imagine yourself in my place: being a boy, walking into the ladies’ room,” he said. “It’s awkward, embarrassing, and even dangerous.”

Thomson’s mother, Deborah Thomson, said that some transgender students avoid drinking water to reduce their need to use the restroom. “On a practical level, telling schools that my son can’t use the appropriate bathroom means that my son’s education will be compromised,” she said.

The new law allows students to use single-occupancy restrooms, but LGBT student advocates have said such accommodations are stigmatizing and amount to unequal treatment.

Uncharted Territory

North Carolina’s law takes its schools into uncharted territory.

Although other states have introduced bills that would limit facilities access in schools, North Carolina’s is the first that has been signed into law. Tennessee’s legislature is currently considering such a bill. South Dakota lawmakers recently passed similar restrictions, but Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed that bill, saying it interfered with local control and did not “address any pressing issue concerning the school districts of South Dakota.” Sponsors of the South Dakota measure said they drafted it in response to “federal overreach.”

The federal Education Department has asserted in court and in civil rights guidance to schools in recentyears that Title IX’s protections for sex also extend to sexual orientation and gender identity. In November, the department’s office for civil rights found an Illinois district in violation of the law because it would not grant a transgender girl unrestricted access to the girls’ locker room. Under threat of penalties, including a possible loss of federal funding, the district hung privacy curtains in the locker room and agreed to allow the student to use it.

School law experts say the department’s interpretation of Title IX isn’t legally binding. A federal judge in Virginia rejected the interpretation last year in a transgender student’s lawsuit, and a review of that decision is pending before an appeals court.

“The department is committed to protecting the rights of transgender students under Title IX, and will continue to work diligently to ensure that all students receive equal access to educational opportunities in accordance with federal law,” Education Department spokeswoman Dorie Nolt said in a statement.

A version of this article appeared in the March 30, 2016 edition of Education Week as N.C. Law Restricts Transgender Student Restroom Access

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts When Blocking Social Media Critics, School Officials Have Protections, Supreme Court Says
The court said public officials' own pages may be "state action," but only when they are exercising government authority.
6 min read
An American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 2, 2020.
An American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 2, 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Law & Courts Oklahoma Nonbinary Student's Death Shines a Light on Families' Legal Recourse for Bullying
Students facing bullying and harassment from their peers face legal roadblocks in suing districts, but settlements appear to be on the rise
11 min read
A photograph of Nex Benedict, a nonbinary teenager who died a day after a fight in a high school bathroom, is projected during a candlelight service at Point A Gallery, on Feb. 24, 2024, in Oklahoma City. Federal officials will investigate the Oklahoma school district where Benedict died, according to a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Education on March 1, 2024.
A photograph of Nex Benedict, a nonbinary teenager who died a day after a fight in a high school restroom, is projected during a candlelight service at Point A Gallery, on Feb. 24, 2024, in Oklahoma City. Federal officials will investigate the Oklahoma school district where Benedict died, according to a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Education on March 1, 2024.
Nate Billings/The Oklahoman via AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Declines Case on Selective High School Aiming to Boost Racial Diversity
Some advocates saw the K-12 case as the logical next step after last year's decision against affirmative action in college admissions
7 min read
Rising seniors at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology gather on the campus in Alexandria, Va., Aug. 10, 2020. From left in front are, Dinan Elsyad, Sean Nguyen, and Tiffany Ji. From left at rear are Jordan Lee and Shibli Nomani. A federal appeals court’s ruling in May 2023 about the admissions policy at the elite public high school in Virginia may provide a vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to flesh out the intended scope of its ruling Thursday, June 29, 2023, banning affirmative action in college admissions.
A group of rising seniors at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology gather on the campus in Alexandria, Va., in August 2020. From left in front are, Dinan Elsyad, Sean Nguyen, and Tiffany Ji. From left at rear are Jordan Lee and Shibli Nomani. The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 declined to hear a challenge to an admissions plan for the selective high school that was facially race neutral but designed to boost the enrollment of Black and Hispanic students.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Law & Courts School District Lawsuits Against Social Media Companies Are Piling Up
More than 200 school districts are now suing the major social media companies over the youth mental health crisis.
7 min read
A close up of a statue of the blindfolded lady justice against a light blue background with a ghosted image of a hands holding a cellphone with Facebook "Like" and "Love" icons hovering above it.
iStock/Getty