RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Last year, Gloucester high school student Gavin Grimm filed a lawsuit in a battle to use the boys bathroom at his school. Grimm was born a female, but identifies as a male. Since the suit several localities across the state have looked into or adopted policies regarding bathrooms and transgender students.
Since the suit, several localities across the state have looked into or adopted policies regarding bathrooms and transgender students.
“It’s popping up in localities all across Virginia, they’re unequipped and unaware of how to handle this and the courts are looking at it, and so we do believe the General Assembly ought to step in and make a reasonable policy for everyone,” said Victoria Cobb with The Family Foundation.
Cobb supports a measure (HB 663) sponsored by Delegate Mark Cole that would require school boards to create and implement bathroom policies that require students to use gender specific bathrooms based on their “anatomical sex” and not on how they identify themselves. An individual could also request a unisex bathroom.
“Our young girls have a right to be in the bathroom and not expect their privacy to be vulnerable,” said Cobb.
Robert Phillips is transgender and says transgender students just want to use the bathroom without being singled out.
“You’ve probably already gone to the restroom with a trans individual and you don’t know it,” said Phillips. “It’s ridiculous. Once again they’re just stigmatizing transgender individuals.”
Phillips says there are other problems with unisex bathrooms.
“There are times when it’s in another building, or in the basement of somewhere farther away,”Phillips said.
Both sides do agree on one thing: Lawmakers should create a policy to address the problem.
“That allow students to use the restroom with the gender that they identify with,” said Phillips.
Cobb said, “I think that we can recognize that the rights of all students need to be protected here.”
The bill has been referred to the General Laws Committee, which meets Thursday.
