Wake schools expanding protection for transgender students and employees

Nov. 25--North Carolina's largest school system wants to extend anti-discrimination protection to its transgender students and employees.

A Wake County school board committee unanimously passed this week revisions to the district's harassment and employment policies to include "transgender or gender identity" among the groups protected against discrimination. Wake already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability or age.

"This is extremely important, and I'm very thankful to see the changes, not just in response to court cases," board member Heather Scott said at Tuesday's policy committee meeting. "But I think this shows that our district is very concerned about being an open place for everyone."

The full school board could vote as soon as next week on the updates to the prohibition against discrimination, harassment and bullying policy and the recruitment and selection of personnel policy.

North Carolina has been a hotbed of controversy over transgender issues.

After House Bill 2 caused national headlines and boycotts for North Carolina in 2016, Republican lawmakers who had supported it made a deal with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in 2017 to replace it with a new law, which was called House Bill 142, The News & Observer previously reported.

A federal lawsuit was filed over the new law. In 2019, a settlement was reached saying that state agencies and universities can't ban transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.

Federal courts expand transgender rights

On Tuesday, Jonathan Blumberg, the school board attorney for Wake, cited two recent federal court decisions that have expanded transgender rights.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Bostock v. Clayton County case that federal employment discrimination law applies to transgender people.

In August, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on behalf of Gavin Grimm, a transgender male student who had been barred from using the restroom of his choice by his Virginia school district. The court said it is unconstitutional to bar students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

North Carolina is in the 4th Circuit's jurisdiction.

Blumberg told the board that the federal courts have provided "protections for potentially vulnerable populations that have historically been victims of discrimination."

"This is an opportunity for the Wake County Board of Education, which has been a champion overall in the area of providing justice and equity, for you all to incorporate this into your policies," Blumberg said at Tuesday's meeting.

Board members were supportive of the policy changes but objected to the proposed wording adding the category of "transgender status." School board member Monika Johnson-Hostler said that telling a transgender person that it's their status can be viewed as offensive.

"Gender identity isn't a status," Johnson-Hostler said. "It is their identity."

Board member Lindsay Mahaffey said she was concerned only using the words "transgender status" could leave out people who are are abinary or non-binary and don't follow traditional concepts of gender.

As a compromise, the wording was revised to say "transgender or gender identity."

Some criticize transgender support

Board member Christine Kushner, the chairwoman of the policy committee, said the revisions show how the district is "truly a leader against discrimination."

While the changes were being discussed in committee, some critics were complaining on social media that Wake is focusing on transgender issues as opposed to educating students

"As students are FAILING because of predictable extended remote learning protocols, Wake County School Board's #1 priority is how to label transgendered students???" Sloan Rachmuth tweeted Wednesday. "These school board members HATE students, parents, and teachers in Wake schools."

Last week, the district's Office of Equity Affairs tweeted that it was Transgender Remembrance Day and asked educators "what is required by each of us to protect the lives of transgender people?" The tweet drew replies accusing the district of promoting "transgenderism."

___

(c)2020 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

Visit The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) at www.newsobserver.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.