In less sensitive times, the term 鈥渂inary鈥� was seldom used outside the high school math classroom. As schools have become enlightened to the notion of nonbinary gender identifications, however, the concept has become a part of a growing dialogue regarding at public schools.
Intersex Awareness Day (Oct. 26), marks another occasion to assess where schools stand (or sit 鈥� bah-dum-tss!) on the restroom issue. Essentially, the positions the nation鈥檚 schools take mimic the checkered tile floors of many of their restrooms 鈥� black and white, which looks grey at a distance.
Enacted in January 2016 was the , which, among other directives, provides comprehensive sexual health education and HIV/AIDS prevention education to students, including discussions about and to intersex and transgender students. To clarify, the Intersex Day defines intersex as “those born with sex characteristics that don鈥檛 meet medical and social norms for female or male bodies,鈥� and transgender pertains to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex.
This state-level awareness of the needs of nonbinary people aligns with the state鈥檚 recent passage of a law that allows for a third gender option on state drivers鈥� licenses and birth certificates, so people can identify as nonbinary or neither conventionally male or female.
Following upon California鈥檚 position, the U.S. Department of Education, then serving under President Obama in April 2016, encouraged the nation鈥檚 school districts to allow access to restrooms that best suit the gender to which a student identifies. Later, President Trump鈥檚 appointee, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, decided against the idea of a national mandate and instead left restroom policy-making at the individual district level. As a consequence, a divisive climate of debate has seeped into what鈥檚 intended to be one of the few private places in public school.
Meanwhile, in Reno, Nev., all new elementary and middle schools in the Washoe County School District will be built with gender-neutral bathrooms, according to a , where installing gender-neutral bathrooms in middle schools is said to be $500,000. Likewise, some Illinois schools, specifically those in the Evanston/Skokie School District 65, will provide transgender-friendly bathrooms, reported the . Ditto New York City Schools. The namesake high school of Detroit Lakes, Minn., will also implement a gender neutral bathroom policy thanks to the efforts of 17-year-old Jayelin Block, reported
Not all local districts are embracing gender neutral restrooms on their campuses. Such is the case in Iowa, for example, where conservative Christian groups have taken umbrage with permitting transgender students to use the bathroom that reflects their stated gender identity. This disconnect is presently an issue at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, where student activist and high school senior Zoey Wagner has been pushing for a more nuanced appreciation of the needs of transgender and nonbinary identifying students.
“Every high school has to have one private bathroom that would work for this,鈥� Wagner told the . 鈥淚t might not be as central as Roosevelt鈥檚, but wherever it is, we have to make it open to students who don鈥檛 want to use gendered bathrooms.鈥�
Though federal-level cohesion regarding gender neutral restrooms is unlikely in the near term, the debate remains part of a greater national dialogue, even when it鈥檚 only being realized between local school districts, students and their respective communities.