Every student deserves the right to receive an education in a safe and supportive environment.
While most of us agree with this, there are some people who do not afford these rights to transgender students.
For years, school districts across our state have stepped up to deliver on this promise by enacting policies that ensure the safety, dignity and privacy for all students, transgender students included. And consistent with New Hampshire school policies, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice recently issued guidelines to schools, colleges and universities across the nation on how the Obama administration and the courts are interpreting laws pertaining to gender.
These “dear colleague letters” do not create laws and are routinely issued by federal departments. Those issued by the Department of Education simply provide best practices to ensure the respect and safety of all students equally – including transgender students – whether it’s in the bathroom or the classroom.
According to a recent study, 87 percent of transgender students have been verbally bullied, while 53 percent have experienced physical violence. When students are afraid to go to school, they miss class and their grades suffer. Ultimately school performance drops and many may not graduate.
The department’s guidelines were issued to help ensure transgender students will have the opportunity to fully participate and succeed in school, as is the case for non-transgender students.
As a transgender student myself, I know what it is like to be isolated because of who I am. While in high school, I was told that I could only use the restroom in the nurse’s office. This was inconvenient not only because the nurse’s office was across campus from many of my classes, but it was also locked much of the time.
If I was late to class because I had to use the restroom, I would be punished. What was worse than the inconvenience was the isolation I felt as a transgender teenager. My high school separated me from my classmates simply because of who I am.
Things weren’t much better my freshman year at the University of New Hampshire. During my first semester living in the student dorms, school officials prohibited me from using the restroom on the same floor as my room simply because I am transgender.
Thankfully, things have changed for the better at UNH. As a senior at UNH, I am proud to say that my school does have many policies in place respecting transgender students.
As president of Trans UNH, I have worked with administrators, faculty and students to ensure that every student and visitor on campus will be treated with dignity and respect.
Though we still have some work to do, UNH does allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds to their identity. Some have raised concerns about safety in public restrooms. Everyone wants to be able to use the restroom in a safe and private environment, including transgender people.
In fact, there are more than 200 cities and 19 states across the nation that allow transgender people to use the restroom that they live every day. There has been no increase in public safety incidents in any of those cities or states.
Recently, more than 300 sexual assault and domestic violence organizations issued a statement refuting any notion that protecting transgender people from discrimination compromises safety in a restroom. It seems outlandish, but this year, in reaction to fears about transgender people, several states have tried to adopt legislation that would make all students somehow prove their sex in order to use the restroom.
Fortunately, most of these bills faced bipartisan opposition and were not signed into law. Republicans and Democrats alike understood these discriminatory laws do nothing to increase safety in restrooms, as it is already illegal to sexually harass or assault someone in a restroom.
Most also understood how damaging these laws are to a state’s reputation and economy.
In January, the North Carolina General Assembly passed and Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law legislation barring transgender people from using restrooms in schools and government buildings that match the gender they live as every day.
Since being signed into law, the state has lost hundreds of events and concerts, thousands of jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and several companies have withdrawn plans to move or expand in that state.
New Hampshire has not passed legislation discriminating against transgender people. However, most people I know are surprised to learn that transgender individuals are not protected from discrimination in our state. That means a transgender person can be fired, kicked out of their home or denied services for no reason other than the fact that they are transgender.
This is not right and it does not reflect the values of our great state. It is time for New Hampshire to update its nondiscrimination laws to include protections for transgender students, workers, visitors and citizens.
(Casey O’Dea is a senior at the University of New Hampshire and president of Trans UNH, a student group dedicated to educating school officials and the wider UNH community about transgender related issues.)