Where should transgender children use the bathroom at school? That topic is being debated in more than a dozen state legislatures, including Illinois.
A student who was born male but identifies as a female had been using the girls bathroom at her Palatine high school. But she was not allowed to change for PE in the girls locker room. The federal Department of Education warned school officials that they were violating the student's rights, and she was eventually given access to the locker room.
State Representative Tom Morrison, a Republican from Palatine, has filed a measure that would not only keep the student out of the locker room; it would also prevent her from using the girls restroom. Morrison's bill would require students to use the facility that corresponds with their birth certificates. Transgender students could use single-occupant restrooms if their parents request it in writing.
"What my bill does is it provides an accommodation for those individuals who cannot neatly fit into either the male facility or the female facility."
Opponents say Morrison's bill stigmatizes a population of children who are already vulnerable to bullying and depression.
