By Claire Rose
staff writer
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| Courtesy of Townhall Images |
Northview High School’s Gay Straight Alliance vice president, junior Sam Roberts, is slowly climbing the chain of command in hopes of convincing the board of education to enable transgender students the ability to use the restroom corresponding to the gender with which they identify. As a transgender student himself, Roberts is personally affected by trans students not being allowed in the bathroom they see fit.
“I’m not a fan of using the women’s bathroom. I’ll usually go when I’m near a family bathroom, or I just don’t go to the bathroom,” Roberts said. The end goal from eventually speaking with the board of education is for transgender students to be able use the restroom that they see suitable for themselves. Albeit, his concern lies in the potential backlash from peers.
“The worst thing is [having to deal] with people who don’t agree with us,” Roberts said, referencing himself and other trans students coming into conflicts with hostile peers. “If someone had actually said to me, ‘Hey, you’re in the wrong bathroom,’ I’d be like, ‘I’m not, I’m in the right bathroom, but if you’re really that uncomfortable with me coming in the bathroom while you’re in here I’ll leave and I’ll go to another.’”
On the opposite side of the issue stands students who are off-put by the thought of physically identifiable males or females in the ‘incorrect’ bathrooms.
One Northview High School senior, who prefers to remain anonymous, expressed the discomfort he would feel from encountering a transgender male in a school restroom. “I’d feel awful… I don’t want them there,” he said. “It should be male in a male bathroom, girl in a girl bathroom. That’s how it should be, that’s how it always was.”
Concerns about safety have been expressed by students who don’t feel strongly about the topic of whether or not transgender students should be allowed in the restroom of their choice. These concerns were similar to those expressed by the anonymous student, “Rape, misconduct, and fights, I can see fights happening a lot,” he said.
However, the anonymous senior also felt that if he were to ever encounter a transgender peer in the bathroom, he’d handle the situation respectfully. “I’d politely ask them to leave… I wouldn’t kick them out. If they don’t want to leave, then okay, fine. I’d probably leave though,” he said.
While it may be a long time until Northview students have to consider how they’d feel with trans students in the bathrooms, it is an issue that will inevitably appear down the road. Although students may not be on the same side of the issue, the management of a potential clash seems to commonly be that of a respectful and polite nature, no matter the individual opinion.
On the opposite side of the issue stands students who are off-put by the thought of physically identifiable males or females in the ‘incorrect’ bathrooms.
One Northview High School senior, who prefers to remain anonymous, expressed the discomfort he would feel from encountering a transgender male in a school restroom. “I’d feel awful… I don’t want them there,” he said. “It should be male in a male bathroom, girl in a girl bathroom. That’s how it should be, that’s how it always was.”
Concerns about safety have been expressed by students who don’t feel strongly about the topic of whether or not transgender students should be allowed in the restroom of their choice. These concerns were similar to those expressed by the anonymous student, “Rape, misconduct, and fights, I can see fights happening a lot,” he said.
However, the anonymous senior also felt that if he were to ever encounter a transgender peer in the bathroom, he’d handle the situation respectfully. “I’d politely ask them to leave… I wouldn’t kick them out. If they don’t want to leave, then okay, fine. I’d probably leave though,” he said.
While it may be a long time until Northview students have to consider how they’d feel with trans students in the bathrooms, it is an issue that will inevitably appear down the road. Although students may not be on the same side of the issue, the management of a potential clash seems to commonly be that of a respectful and polite nature, no matter the individual opinion.
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