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22 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators

repeal. In March 2017, the state legislature responded to corporate pressure and repealed
the bathroom restrictions in HB2 but left intact sections preventing local governments
“from passing anti-discrimination policies for four years” (Bissell, 2017). The possible
role of HB2 in 2018 elections is still being debated while state business leaders and state
promoters are happy to be out of “the cross hairs of culture wars over transgender rights”
(“HB 2 saga,” 2018, A3). A law similar to HB2 continues to be debated in other states. In
May 2018, Vermont passed a law requiring all single-stall bathrooms in public buildings
be labeled gender neutral. In addition, Vermont and 18 other states have gender identity
as a protected class in accommodation laws” (“Vermont restroom law,” May 12, 2018, A5).

Transgender Students, Schools, and Bathrooms
“I have a girl brain but a boy body. I was born this way. Being Jazz (her chosen name)
caused some other people to be confused too, like the teachers at school. At the beginning
of the year they wanted me to use the boys’ bathroom, and play on the boys’ team in gym
class, but that didn’t feel normal to me at ALL” (Herthel & Jennings, 2014, np).
As more children and youth identify as questioning or transgender, both parents and
school staff face challenging decisions. Several school-related issues have emerged, including
maintaining privacy of students, what name to call students, which pronouns to use, and
how to deal with bullying and harassment from peers. As in the public debate over HB2
in North Carolina and other states, access to bathrooms based on gender identity has been
a complicated, crucial issue for both students and school officials. It challenges schools to
balance the rights of transgender students with rights of others and is a “lightning rod’
issue not only in the United States but in other countries such as Canada (Bowers &
Lopez, 2013).
Opponents to students accessing bathrooms according to their gender identity argue
that all students should use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological or birth
sex. Some deny the concept of the transgender child; thus, students should use the birth-
sex-bathroom. Others acknowledge differences but argue providing access to a single-stall
teacher restroom is all that is required for the student who should not use the multiple-
stall bathroom. Advocates argue that making a student use the teacher restroom is
discriminatory and singles out the student as being different. In 2013, California became
the first state to pass legislation permitting use of facilities and participation in school
athletics and programs by gender identity and not anatomy (Nutt, 2015). Gaining access
in other states has not been so easy.
In Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family, author Amy Nutt (2015)
offered insights into the struggles of the Maines family to receive help and acceptance for
their transgender daughter, Nicole. The family adopted identical twin boys and named
them Wyatt and Jonas. But by age three it became obvious that the boys were not truly
“identical.” Wyatt loved Barbie dolls, Ariel from The Little Mermaid film, and being the
girl character during play, while Jonas played with trucks and was always the boy character.
When three, Wyatt startled his fatherWayne, saying, “Daddy, I hate my penis” (p. 23) and
asked his mom Kelly when he would be a girl (p. 29). Kelly was more open to Wyatt doing
and wearing ‘girl’ things at home, and, by the time Wyatt was seven, Kelly had read articles
and seen transgender people on television and had spoken with counselors. She accepted
that Wyatt could be “a girl,” and after a 2007 Barbara Walter’s 20/20 show on transgender
children, Kelly and Wayne began to understand Wyatt better. School issues emerged in
third grade when Wyatt drew himself as female and then in fourth grade when Wyatt
asked teachers to use female pronouns for him. Most of the children were accepting of