The Oklahoma House Prepares to Introduce Another Attack on trans, Two Spirit, and nonbinary kids

ID: “The choice is clear, let trans kids be” “Let trans kids be kids” with the FOK logo on a blue/pink background

April 27, 2022

In a March 31, 2022 email, Stillwater Public Schools Interim Superintendent Gay Washington  affirmed that the school administration is aware their current bathroom protocol is the standard necessary to meet the requirements of the law. But in the weeks since, as anti-trans think tanks have dominated the narrative and bullied trans residents, trans students, 2SLGBTQ+ affirming students and staff, and school board members, a local conversation over a long-standing policy which has caused zero incidents of any kind, is now at the threat of reverting to noncompliance with Title IX and Title II. All because capitulating to the loudest threats has pushed the decision making away from educators and local, elected officials who know how schools can and should operate, and placed it in the hands of an appointed Attorney General, an individual just recently deemed unqualified by the American Bar Association, in an election year, an appointed State Board of Education, and an Oklahoma Legislature looking to hastily capitalize on political grandstanding in an election year. It is our vulnerable, targeted trans, Two Spirit, and nonbinary students in Oklahoma who will suffer as a result if Stillwater Public Schools, Superintendent Hofmeister, the Oklahoma Attorney General, Oklahoma House leadership, and the people of Oklahoma allow fear to drive decision-making.

This is not the first time we have seen people make bathroom access a battleground despite a universal need to use the restroom. From workers’ rights at the turn of the 20th century to the fight for gender equality in the workplace, from the lingering impact of Jim Crow laws through the desegregation of American public schools, to the current movement for equality for 2SLGBTQ+ people, bathrooms have been targeted. The play book has remained largely the same. Those fighting against bathroom access center their arguments on the myth of safety, focusing especially on cisgender women and girls. History has shown us time and again these concerns are unfounded. EVERYONE, should have access to bathrooms without fear of discrimination, marginalization, or criminalization. Changing the functional protocol in schools opens up any kids to having their gender called into question, with enforcement being a certain invasion of privacy. Best practice policies don’t threaten students’ safety, but single sex bathroom bans, in schools and everywhere else, do. 

We’ve seen attempts to enact trans-exclusionary school bathroom policies play out before. What we know is that school bathroom protocol that discriminate on the basis of sex (including gender identity and gender expression) require schools to violate federal law, including Title VII, Title IX. They put millions of dollars of federal funding at risk, and end with the likely outcome of forcing taxpayers to shoulder the burden of paying for the legal fees spent defending these policies in court. 

The courts have clarified that neither schools nor states can advance policies that marginalize and target bathroom access for trans kids. Stillwater Public Schools currently follows the intent and spirit of Title IX with their policies, and has done everything to center the safety and wellbeing of all of their students–something that is in jeopardy every time trans students are further attacked and marginalized. The Stillwater Public School Board’s decision to remove the attention they feel parents were directing their way, and Superintendent Hofmeister’s further deferral to a political Attorney General, who has now encouraged hasty action in the state legislature puts trans students across Oklahoma at risk of schools being forced to enact rules based on political tides, not best practices in education or under the law.

We will say it again and again: trans students have always been here. They belong in Oklahoma. They deserve the safety to thrive everywhere, including in schools, without the threat of further marginalization or possibility of being outed, just because they need to use the bathroom during a school day. We’re in this to work to ensure a future where trans kids have the safety to exist in school, in this state, with the ability to live to become trans adults. Anything less is a failure of our education system and our elected and appointed officials, at every level of government.

You can find more information about best practice accommodations for school bathroom protocol, here. 

You can contact members of the Oklahoma House, here.

You can contact Attorney General O’Connor and the State Board of Education about the policy, here. 

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We know that attacks on 2SLGBTQ+ people have a measurable negative impact on mental health. We ask that stories covering this topic include information to access 2SLGBTQ+ affirming mental health crisis support, such as Trans Lifeline (877-565-8860), the Trevor Project (call 1-866-488-7386 or text START to 678-678), and the LGBT Hotline (888-843-4564).