Large North Carolina School District Passes Strong Trans Protections - Other Districts Should Follow

This is a monumental victory for transgender students in Durham Public Schools, and comprehensive policies like these need to be implemented nationwide.

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

Durham Public Schools has passed a landmark policy document, 1735/4035/7235, protecting transgender students in local schools after a month of intense debate. This comes only one month after anti-trans school board candidates fell nationwide - including anti-trans candidates in North Carolina. This policy document is extensive - it protects transgender restroom access, pronoun protections, staff name changes, and more. This comes two years after neighboring Orange County, North Carolina passed a similar policy in 2020 protecting trans students. More cities need to take up policies that protect trans students and oppose anti-trans movements that seek to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ students in schools. This could be a sign of further fallout from the failure of anti-trans school board candidates in the state and nationwide.

The policy includes several specific protections. It protects student privacy and allows a student to come out at school while expressing that their home or parent is not safe to come out to. When determining whether or not to notify the parents of a trans student’s status, it states that the health and safety of the student will be the paramount concern and that parental notification will be handled on a case by case basis after consulting with the student. This is in stark contrast to forced outing provisions being adopted in other states - Virginia, for instance, is currently reviewing model policies put forward by Governor Glen Youngkin directing all schools in the state to forcibly out transgender students to their parents if any counseling around gender identity is given. Such a move would, of course, destroy the therapy relationship between the counselor and student.

The policy also protects student names and pronouns, and these protections are extensive and exhaustive. It declares that legal name and gender changes are not required in order for a student to be referred to by their chosen name and pronouns. It also states that students, teachers, and faculty should respect trans people’s names and pronouns and that intentional and repeated misgendering can fall under bullying and harassment policies. That’s not all though - the policy explicitly protects trans teachers as well and directly says that parental consent for name and pronoun changes is not required.

Durham County Schools Name and Pronoun Policy

Names and pronouns are extremely important. The correct use of names and pronouns are associated with better mental health outcomes for trans students. In fact, in the Journal of Adolescent Health, it was reported that transgender students who had accurate names and pronouns used were 71% less likely to be depressed and 65% less likely to take their own lives. The Cleveland Clinic reports that deadnaming, the act of intentionally using a trans students incorrect name, is harmful and traumatic. Yet some school districts implement harmful policies that force even supportive teachers to intentionally deadname their students.

On the other hand, school is an immensely important place for transgender students to be respected. Transgender students are 54% more likely to feel safe at school than at home according to new Trevor Project research released this year. This has such an important impact on transgender suicide rates. According to the Trevor Project survey, trans students in very unaccepting community environments (like a school with a parental notification policy and unaccepting parents) have a 3x higher chance of suicide than a trans student in a very accepting environment.

Trevor Project 2022 Survey

The policy also outlines many other areas of protections for transgender students and staff. One part of the policy spells out that just because a student or teacher hasn’t changed their legal name does not mean that their name cannot be updated on their ID card, their email address, and in any other systems where a legal name is not a necessity. This bypasses an issue that I have personally seen many students and teachers face - that non-legal documents must have a legal name on them even though it is not required by law is something that many schools have required.

Another portion of the policy outlines trans participation in sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms. It protects transgender participation in their gender’s sports while following guidelines for what that participation looks like. Importantly, transgender people are given complete access to the facilities of their gender identity. Furthermore, it requires students who “desire more privacy” to be given access to non-gendered bathrooms or private changing areas. This means that transgender people requesting private accommodations can be respected. Comprehensive bathroom and locker room protections are so important and declaring that trans students cannot be discriminated against is so important.

Durham County Schools Restroom and Locker Room Policy

These policies come after several anti-trans school board candidates lost nationwide, with heavy losses in North Carolina itself. The Washington Post reported that Republican attacks on LGBTQ+ people helped elect Democrats in the 2022 election cycle. In North Carolina, Durham-neighboring Wake County retained 7 of 9 Democratic candidates and rejected a slate of anti-trans candidates. In the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, both anti-trans candidates lost their races. As a result, it is no surprise that school districts like this one feel empowered to move forward and protect trans people in their state.

Protecting LGBTQ+ youth should be a basic policy adopted by all school districts in the United States. When we see 3 states adopting policies that require trans students to use the bathroom of their birth sex and when we see states like Alabama pass laws that would require school counselors to out trans students, school districts like Durham Public Schools should be commended for their forward thinking protections for trans students. These policies will save lives and should hopefully become model policies for other school districts.