California School Agrees To Respect Transgender Student Identities
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on October 15th, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
California School Agrees To Respect Transgender Student Identities
Title IX protects transgender students from discrimination based on sex stereotypes.
The post California School Agrees To Respect Transgender Student Identities appeared first on ThinkProgress.
CREDIT: DUSD.Net
The Downey Unified School District outside of Los Angeles, California has entered into an agreement with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to rectify its treatment of a transgender student and take measures to prevent students from being unfairly treated for their gender identity in the future.
As a fifth-grader, the student was regularly disciplined at school for her gender nonconformance. In one instance, she had her make-up confiscated (even though other girls were allowed to wear it), and was forced to write an apology letter for making male students feel uncomfortable because she’d been wearing it. She was also removed from group counseling sessions with other students due to a concern she might discuss her gender identity. The Principal once complained that she should have been “forewarned” when the student would attend school in girls’ clothing, and insisted on calling her by her male name, including in her school picture.
She was also regularly subjected to verbal harassment by her peers, who called her “gay,” “fag,” “bitch,” and “whore.” The school’s only solution was to have her sit close to the bus driver, though that didn’t end harassment she experienced as she got on and off the bus. In sixth grade, she transferred to a different middle school that was more accepting of her identity, but the peer harassment continued and the school did not take measures to change the culture.
The agreement recognizes that this kind of treatment violated the student’s protection under Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. The Department of Education interprets “sex” to include sex stereotyping, and thus sex discrimination includes “harassment for students for failing to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity,” meaning transgender students are inherently protected even though “gender identity” is not separately enumerated.
The school district has hired a consultant to advise it on eliminating gender identity discrimination and creating a safe environment for all students. The student will be treated the same as other female students, including access to all sex-designated facilities without fear of discipline. Staff and faculty will also be trained on issues related to gender nonconformance and how to implement anti-discrimination policies to protect trans students. Annual school climate assessments will evaluate the effectiveness of these improvements.
The resolution mirrors a similar 2013 agreement with Arcadia Unified School District, also in California, where a transgender student was not allowed to use the boys’ restroom or locker room. California also passed a law in 2013 protecting transgender students from discrimination in schools, which conservatives have unsuccessfully tried to challenge.
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BREAKING: Unanimous Arkansas Supreme Court Rules Voter ID Unconstitutional
The law disenfranchised thousands of eligible voters during the May primary.
The post BREAKING: Unanimous Arkansas Supreme Court Rules Voter ID Unconstitutional appeared first on ThinkProgress.
CREDIT: AP Photo/Marc Levy
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS—Late Wednesday afternoon, the Arkansas Supreme Court released a unanimous decision holding the voter ID law passed earlier this year in violation of the state’s constitution. The judges wrote: “The legislature can not, under color of regulating the manner of holding elections…impose such restrictions as will have the effect to take away the right to vote as secured by the constitution.”
“We are extremely pleased,” lead attorney Jeff Priebe told ThinkProgress. “This decision really shows the importance of voting. The Arkansas Constitution holds that the right to vote is a fundamental right, the gateway to all others. It’s so important that we can’t erect additional qualifications that would keep people from voting.”
The ruling affirms a lower court ruling back in April, saying the law is “unconstitutional on its face.”
Unlike cases in Texas and other states where court battles over voter ID laws delved into the merits of the law — with those on one side arguing they address voter fraud, and opponents accusing them of intentionally suppressing votes — the Arkansas case turned on a purely technical question: can the legislature add any more requirements to vote than those already listed in the state’s constitution? The court said today they cannot.
The judges went on to quote Democratic Governor Mike Beebe calling the law “an expensive solution in search of a problem” and “an unnecessary measure that would negatively impact one of our most precious rights as citizens.”
In the case, Priebe and the Arkansas American Civil Liberties Union represented four registered voters in Pulaski County who lacked a valid ID and would thus be disenfranchised in the upcoming midterm election.
“These voters will now be able to cast a ballot in the November general election that will be counted,” he told ThinkProgress. “And countless others will be able to cast a ballot and they won’t have to jump through any hoops to get an ID.”
The ACLU monitored the state’s primary elections in May, finding more than a thousand valid voters across the state had their ballots thrown out because they lacked an ID. ThinkProgress spoke with a 79-year-old great-great-grandmother whose absentee ballot was thrown out because she knew nothing about the voter ID law until she was notified that her vote was never counted.
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