On Oct. 19, the Florida Board of Education approved a strict rule preventing public and charter schools in the state from allowing trans+ youth to use the restroom or locker room consistent with their gender identity without first alerting all parents with children in the school district and making a public announcement online, MSN reported.
The rule requires school boards with policies that allow transgender youth to use gender-separated facilities “according to some criteria other than biological sex at birth” to post the policy to the school district’s publicly available website and inform parents of the policy’s existence by mail.
“What this rule is about, as I understand it, is parental notification,” Board of Education Chairman Thomas R. Grady said after a public comment period that featured conflicting remarks. “It’s not mandating what a particular bathroom looks like or doesn’t look like or who can use it.”
Rita Harris, a Democratic candidate for the Florida House, told board members it was their obligation to protect students across the state, including transgender students, who face high rates of attempted suicide and other mental health challenges tied to discrimination and social stigma.