Long Beach Unified already following Obama directive on transgender students' bathroom access

The Obama administration’s directive that public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity is already policy in the Long Beach Unified School District.

The guidance from leaders at the Justice and Education departments, which was issued Friday, says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

Long Beach Unified policy

Long Beach Unified School District’s five-member goveing board revised two of its existing nondiscrimination policies — Nondiscrimination and Harassment of Students as well as Nondiscrimination in District Programs and Activities — in early 2014 to include transgender youth.

Board members changed the district’s policies in response to Assembly Bill 1266, a state law activated in January 2014 that required public schools to allow transgender youth to participate in activities, such as sports teams, and use facilities, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, in line with their gender identity. The policies prohibit discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying of students based on their “gender identity or expression” as well as retaliation against students who report discrimination.

“This guidance directive from the Obama Administration is a huge aouncement,” said Porter Gilberg, executive director of the Long Beach LGBTQ Center. “The shift in language to focus on gender identity instead of what’s on their birth certificate is huge. The Obama Administration has taken a firm stance that all students have a legal right to use the rest room.”

ABC Unified Superintendent Mary Sieu said Friday the district revised its policies according to state law in 2014. Superintendent Brian Jacobs at Bellflower Unified and Superintendent John Garcia at Downey Unified couldn’t be reached for comment.

Downey Unified complaint

In late 2014, Downey Unified, which had been accused of harassing and discriminating against a transgender elementary student, resolved a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

The school district signed the voluntary agreement without admitting guilt or that it violated federal laws and before the education department’s Office for Civil Rights completed its investigation.

The school district agreed to 10 specific steps, including giving the student access to female-dedicated facilities, ensuring the student isn’t disciplined for being transgender and providing students with age-appropriate information on gender identity.

Advertisement

Federal guidance

In a statement accompanying the federal directive, Attoey General Loretta Lynch said, “There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex.”

In issuing the guidance, the Obama administration is wading anew into a socially divisive debate it has bluntly cast in terms of civil rights. The Justice Department on Monday sued North Carolina over a bathroom access law that it said violates the rights of transgender people, a measure that Lynch likened to policies of racial segregation and efforts to deny gay couples the right to marry.

The guidance does not impose any new legal requirements. But officials say it’s meant to clarify expectations of school districts that receive funding from the federal govement. Educators have been seeking guidance on how to comply with Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding, Education Secretary John B. King said in a statement.

“We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence,” King said.

States defiant

In Texas, Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick said on Friday that the state was ready to forfeit federal education money, about $10 billion, rather than comply with the guidance.

“We will not be blackmailed by the president’s 30 pieces of silver,” he said. “The people of Texas and the Legislature will find a way to find as much of that money as we can if we are forced to.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.