Transgender bathroom bill gets hearing

In light of the controversies around the bill that limits transgender students’ ability to use bathrooms and locker rooms at school, the state Assembly Committee on Education gathered Thursday to hear public voices, many of which were emotional.

The bill would require school boards to designate bathrooms and locker rooms as exclusive to one gender. He says it instead protects the privacy and safety of all students.

Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville, said students who have been sexually assaulted should be taken into consideration during decision-making for this bill. This reckless and irresponsible bill would put school districts and educators in direct conflict with federal law, creating unnecessary confusion and liability for schools all across Wisconsin.

School districts are successfully dealing with concerns of transgender students as they arise, said John Forester, lobbyist for the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance.

Joellen Kralik, a research analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said similar legislation was introduced this year in Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota Missouri, Nevada and Texas, but none were enacted.

“The foremost of those is that it undoes the efforts local school districts have made to address accommodations for all students”, said state Superintendent Tony Evers. “This bill disregards that important work”.

Julaine Appling of the conservative Wisconsin Family Action, the only lobbying group registered in support of the measure, said Thursday that “school districts have been put in an untenable position”.

“A trans woman is a real woman and a trans man is a real man”, said Aden Haley-Lock, a 14-year-old freshman at East who uses the school’s gender-neutral bathroom. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos issued a statement saying he supports the bill and believes the state, not the federal government, should determine the transgender bathroom policy.

“The highest cause of suicide of teenagers in this country is sexual identity issues”, she said.

“A trans kid who identifies and dresses like a female may not be accepted in the boys’ restroom…this would create more bullying and possibly unsafe situations for transgendered students”, they said. “That’s not a societal norm”, he said.

“We don’t want that”.

Bill would tighten restrictions on gender-specific bathrooms, locker rooms in schoolsTwo Republicans are proposing a bill to standardize rules for gender-specific bathrooms and locker rooms in school districts across the … In a few cases, male or female students who object to using the bathroom alongside a transgender student of the opposite biological sex is offered the private accommodation – an arrangement that did not sit well with a few supporters of the bill.