© 2024 90.7 WMFE. All Rights Reserved.
90.7 Orlando • 89.5 Ocala
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Marion County School Board Imposes Bathroom Ban

Image: Marion County Public Schools logo
Image: Marion County Public Schools logo

A form of a controversial North Carolina bill that stops transgender people from using bathrooms for the gender they identify with, has now made its way to Florida.

The Marion County School Board voted 4 to 1 to pass a measure that restricts students' access to school bathrooms based on their birth sex, according to the Ocala Star-Banner. The newspaper reports the issue arose after a local parent complained his son’s right to privacy was violated because he had to share a bathroom with a transgender student. The resolution says “male and female users of Marion County Public Schools’ single-sex facilities reasonably expect not to be exposed to persons of the opposite sex while using those facilities.”

Before the board’s vote Tuesday night, The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said the new rule would “violate Title IX sex discrimination requirements, violate the equal protection clause of the US Constitution, and jeopardize federal funding for the school district.”

Equality Florida’s director of transgender inclusion Gina Duncan said the Marion County School Board’s decision invalidates transgender youth and is built on the premise of hate speech and a misunderstanding of gender identity. “Some argue allowing transgender people gives pedophiles and sexual deviants the license to attack women in the restrooms, but from studies and talking to law enforcement officers and elected officials, there has been no increase in public safety issues,” she says.

The new rule in Marion County Public Schools goes into effect this week.