(COLORADO SPRINGS) — At a special meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 24, School District 49 (D49) voted to enact changes to its bathroom policy, which segregates bathrooms and other private spaces like locker rooms by biological sex.
The changes to the district’s policy segregates private facilities according to students’ biological sex, though the district said single-stall bathrooms would be available at each school for any student who requests additional privacy.
D49 said the policy allows the district to comply with Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs.
“There is no perfect solution to this, there is no perfect answer,” said Lori Thompson, President of the D49 School Board.
While many board members stressed the complexity of the issue, opponents said its presence on board agendas seems odd given other, more pressing issues.
“This board has become singularly focused on about one and a half percent of our student body,” said Mike Heil, the School Board Treasurer. “This board, if it is ever remembered at all, will be known as a single-issue board obsessed with what’s happening in our students’ underwear.”
Inside Out Youth Services, an LGBTQ+ advocacy and community service group, held a rally ahead of the meeting to protest the policy changes, arguing they will negatively impact transgender and gender non-conforming students.
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