Pasco County schools issue new bathroom policy based on sex at birth
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Pasco County students will soon be required to use school bathrooms and locker rooms based on their sex at birth.
Driving the news: County Superintendent Kurt Browning announced the new policy Tuesday, citing a court ruling from last month in St. Johns County. In that case, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed a district policy that stopped a trans male high school student from using the boys' bathrooms.
- Pasco students who don't want to use the bathroom aligned with their sex at birth will be able to ask for accommodations to use a single-stall private restroom.
Why it matters: LGBTQ advocates worry the rule will be harmful for transgender and non-binary students' safety, health and well-being, and question how it will be enforced.
- Under federal education updates to Title IX enacted over the summer, schools that receive federal funds are expected to protect transgender students from discrimination by allowing them to use bathrooms that match their gender identity.
- Separating bathrooms in schools based on biological sex has been criticized by the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
What they're saying: The district held off on changing its policy for the last five years, but the St. Johns ruling was the final push.
- "I realize that this change in practice may not sit well with some students and/or adults but it is important to note that, as a district, we are required to abide by the laws of the state of Florida and the United States," Browning wrote to principals ahead of Tuesday's meeting, per the Tampa Bay Times. "This change in district practice and procedure does both."
The other side: At Tuesday's school board meeting, LGBTQ advocates, who were dressed in purple, pleaded with the board not to change its bathroom policy.
- Equality Florida spokesperson Brandon Wolf told Axios that while Browning cited the law, it should not dictate the bathroom policy.
- "That ruling doesn't compel any district to abandon any policies for transgender students," Wolf said. "The only thing that court case did is say that districts have the discretion to provide the kind of spaces for students they deem fit. The decision by the superintendent in Pasco is a discretionary decision to not provide access to facilities in schools that are affirming of transgender and nonbinary students."
What's ahead: District schools have 30 days to institute the policy.