Equal Access to Bathrooms and Public Facilities

Written By Guest User

Written by Paul LeBlanc

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For this final post for Pride Month, I would like to touch on one of the most controversial current issues relevant to the LGBTQ community: equal access to bathrooms and public facilities for transgender people. As most are likely aware, there has been a great deal of public discussion in recent years about whether transgender people should be permitted to use bathrooms, locker rooms, and other traditionally sex-segregated facilities that align with their gender identities.

This issue has elicited strong responses from all sides, most significantly in debates about transgender students using bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools. In this post, I will share important research and resources on this topic, with a focus on transgender students.

Firstly, a wealth of research shows that allowing transgender students to use bathrooms, locker rooms, and other public facilities that conform with their gender identities is critical for their health and well-being. Some examples of relevant studies include the following:

  •  A Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study (2019) found that 36% of transgender students who were unable to access bathrooms aligned with their gender identities reported having been sexually assaulted in the last 12 months (compared with one quarter of all students surveyed).

  • According to the American Medical Association, “exclusionary policies require transgender individuals to live one facet of their lives in contradiction with their gender identity…[Such] policies threaten to exacerbate the risk of anxiety and depression, low self-esteem, engaging in self-injurious behaviors, suicide, substance use, homelessness, and eating disorders, among other adverse outcomes” (2019).

  • A 2018 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found no correlation between reports of crime and assaults in sex-segregated facilities and nondiscrimination protections for transgender people.

Gavin Grimm (Image Credit: Scout Tufankjian/ACLU)

Gavin Grimm (Image Credit: Scout Tufankjian/ACLU)

Secondly, the necessity of inclusive policies is also borne out by the real-world experiences of transgender students. One of the most high-profile legal cases concerning transgender students was brought by Gavin Grimm, a transgender teenager who sued in federal court to challenge his school district’s discriminatory policies. Gavin had initially been allowed to use the boy’s bathrooms after transitioning but was later forced to use the nurse’s office after the school district enacted a new, restrictive policy. Gavin was subject to intense stigmatization and ridicule from both students and parents after this decision.

Three of the four rulings on this case to date have been in Gavin’s favor, with courts holding that the school district’s ban on transgender students using bathrooms consistent with their gender identities violates Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. After the latest ruling in Gavin’s favor, the school district appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to take up the case [Update June 29, 2021: The Supreme Court declined to hear the school district’s appeal on Monday, June 28].

Gavin authored an op-ed in the New York Times in 2017 that explains his experience as a transgender student and the importance of supporting inclusive policies at schools and other public spaces. I would encourage everyone to take some time to read about Gavin’s experience in his own words. Gavin’s story is an example of how cultural competency and a basic understanding of gender diversity is not only helpful, but vital for navigating a diverse world.

Although being at the center of a very public controversy has not been easy, Gavin remains steadfast in his resolve. I would like to conclude this post with these words from Gavin himself:

 “This case will not be resolved until after I graduate. But this fight is bigger than me. I came to realize that very early on, and it is truer now than it ever has been. This fight is for other trans youth in my high school. It is for other trans youth in Virginia. It is for all trans youth who are in school or one day will be. It is for the friends and loved ones of these youth, who want these children to be happy and healthy, rather than at risk and in danger as so many trans people are.”


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