The Sarasota County School Board split on whether to implement transgender-inclusive bathroom policies at a board workshop Feb. 16 and have decided to hear public opinion on the subject at the next school board meeting March 1.
The last time the Sarasota County School Board heard on the matter Feb. 2, the meeting had more than 150 attendees.
The bathroom policy for transgender students became an issue for the Sarasota County School Board after Pine View, a grades 2-12 magnet school in Osprey, Fla., changed the policy for trans student Nate Quinn.
The policy, adopted Jan. 14, allows transgender students in grades 6-12 to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with regardless of what gender they were assigned at birth. The bathrooms for elementary grade students will remain the same.
Pine View is the first school in the county to adopt a trans-inclusive bathroom policy.
ANSWER Suncoast, a coalition of anti-war and civil rights organizations, has gotten behind Quinn creating calls-to-action, encouraging others in the community to join in on calling the school board and attending the meetings.
“We’ll let the Sarasota County School Board know that we won’t accept discrimination, ignorance and hate. We demand that the School Board embrace equality in Sarasota County Schools. Transgender and gender nonconforming students deserve a safe and equal learning environment, contrary to the bigoted beliefs of Board Chair Frank Kovach,” ANSWERS Suncoast’s Facebook event states.
ANSWERS Suncoast also asks supporters to wear black t-shirts to the March 1 meeting and encourages everyone in attendance to get up and speak to the board to “ensure our voice is fully heard.” Bryan Ellis from ANSWERS Suncoast is expected to be in attendance at the school board meeting.
Quinn says that six people have approached him already to speak on behalf of him and all trans students in Sarasota County, support he says is desperately needed.
“It is so important in Sarasota County, especially at this meeting considering the overwhelming opposition last time,” Quinn says. “With all the support I have been getting for this movement, I just feel so optimistic for the future of Sarasota County. I think we’re really moving forward as a community and showing that we can stand for acceptance and inclusion.”
