South Carolina lawmakers have passed a state budget that includes Proviso 1.120 that requires K-12 public schools to prohibit transgender students from using restrooms or locker rooms that aligns with their gender identity. Ivy Hill, Director of Gender Justice for the Campaign for Southern Equality & a leader in the SC United for Justice & Equality coalition stated, “This was an absolute sneak attack with lawmakers weaponizing the state budget process to kick transgender youth & their families while they’re already down, further harming transgender youth & singling them out for harassment & exclusion. Schools should be a place where young people can learn & thrive but now, transgender students will have to worry about something as simple & basic as being able to use the bathroom. This policy is a humiliating invasion of privacy for trans students & forces South Carolina’s hardworking teachers & public school staff to become the gender police. Shame on these lawmakers.” A 2020 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board found that policies excluding transgender students from using the restroom based on their gender identity violate the Equal Protection Clause & Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination by schools. South Carolina is in the 4th Circuit’s jurisdiction. There haven’t been any reported incidents of transgender people posing a risk to public safety in restrooms in South Carolina. However, there are countless reported incidents of transgender people or people suspected to be transgender facing harassment or violence while trying to use the restroom & policies like this only increase that risk. For More Info…
No comments:
Post a Comment