Transgender Bathroom Use In Schools

Equality Map and Additional Resources See our Equality Map: Bans on Transgender People's Use of Public Bathrooms & Facilities According to Their Gender Identity, which is updated and maintained in real time alongside this document. For more information about school nondiscrimination laws and guidance on the treatment and inclusion of transgender students see MAP's Equality Map: School. Transgender Students and School Bathrooms: Frequently Asked Questions About Gender Spectrum Gender Spectrum works nationwide to educate individuals, families, communities, and institutions seeking to strengthen or create gender inclusive environments for all youth.

Arkansas, for example, passed a law in 2023 requiring trans people to use the bathroom of their birth sex in K. The clash over bathroom policy and other elements of a federal regulation finalized last week could set the stage for another wave of legal battles over how transgender kids should be treated in the U.S. Research consistently finds that transgender people report negative experiences like harassment and violence when accessing bathrooms.

Transgender people face increased risks when required to use bathrooms according to their sex assigned at birth. The school district produced no non-speculative evidence linking the privacy interest with the policy of barring transgender students from the bathroom consistent with their gender identity; and the majority opinion's assertions about privacy ignored that transgender students typically use the bathroom aligning with their gender identity. What does trans inclusion look like? Trans-inclusive policies allow all people-including transgender people-to use the bathroom that best matches their gender identity.

Trans-inclusive policies do allow for men's and women's rooms, and recommend but do not require gender. A Florida public school's transgender bathroom ban was recently upheld by a federal appeals court, leading to a circuit split that may need to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Specifically, in a 7-4 ruling, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a school policy requiring students to use only the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex or a gender. All students should have access to locker room, bathroom, and shower facilities that are safe, comfortable, and convenient.

Absent a concern for safety, schools should permit a student to use the restrooms or locker rooms for which they identify with. If private or separate facilities are requested by any transgendered or non-transgendered student, the student should be provided with those. School districts that don't respect transgender and nonbinary students' pronouns or force them to use restrooms that don't align with their gender identity could be committing federal civil.