Ethan Stucker. (Screenshot via KCAU TV ABC 9 News, Sioux City, Iowa)
A sixteen-year-old transgender teen was abruptly banned from using the boy’s restrooms at Spirit Lake High School in Spirit Lake, Iowa this week after he used them for three previous semesters without issues or controversy. Ethan Stucker said that several faculty members informed him that he was now required to use the unisex bathroom that’s located in the teachers’ lounge or face consequences.
Speaking with reporter Dillon Adams from ABC News affiliate KCAU TV 9 in Sioux City, Stucker said “So after school, I went down to the office and the guidance counselors told me that if I continue to use the male restroom that I will have to speak to the principal and will be disciplined for that.” The teen who identifies as a trans male said that he argued this new mandate by school officials violates both the 2007 Iowa Civil Rights Act and Iowa Department of Education guidelines.
Also speaking to KCAU, Stucker’s mother, Jennifer Larson told the station “They told me that there was no concern on safety, but it was rather a student’s feelings of maybe being uncomfortable in the bathroom with transgender students.”
Larson said the new mandate came without explanation or prior notification.
“I was not aware that there was any issue prior to them calling Ethan,” Larson said. “And after the fact Ethan called me from school and he was crying and very upset.”
A spokesperson for Dr. David Smith, the superintendent of the Spirit Lake Community School District, declined comment instead referring to the following public media statement:
“We are investigating the current regulations and are sensitive to both sides of the issue. We have and continue to provide multiple restroom facilities attempting to accommodate both positions on the issue so all our students feel emotionally and physically safe.”
According to KCAU, the high school’s principal Casey O’Rourke provided the following statement:
“We are aware of the request and are meeting to accommodate the matter. We do not see this as an issue as we are very sensitive to transgender issues.”
Stucker’s mother however, tells KCAU that she sees this as more than a transgender issue.
“It’s ostracizing those students and making them feel separate from everyone else and I don’t get how, the school is all about bringing us together and being one with the community and a one school equality thing and this does not fall in line with what they claim they want to do,” Larson said.
In addition to starting an online petition, which garnered 700 plus signatures as of Nov. 30, Stucker is also refusing to comply with the new restriction; “[…] I don’t plan to,” he said. “Because I have every right to be treated the same as every other male student in there.
“It really is important because there’s a lot of especially younger trans kids in the school who really need a safe place to grow up and the school isn’t providing that right now,” said Stucker.
