JACKSON — Under fire from the governor and many Republican legislators, the Mississippi Department of Education now says it won’t follow new federal guidance on use of bathrooms and locker rooms by transgender students.
State Superintendent Carey Wright made the announcement Wednesday in a brief statement, saying the department would “follow the lead of state leadership” and take no action until the state Board of Education discusses the situation.
Federal authorities last week called for transgender students to be treated consistently with their gender identity. They cited a need for a “safe and caring school environment.”
The federal guidance isn’t legally binding. Courts haven’t definitively said whether federal civil rights laws protect transgender people. But schools that refuse to comply could lose federal education aid and face civil rights lawsuits from the government.
Lowndes County School District Superintendent Lynn Wright said his district will not allow students to use opposite-sex bathrooms.
“We have no plans of tolerating males entering female restrooms or females entering male restrooms,” Wright told The Dispatch. “That’s a right of privacy that could be deemed sexual harassment for someone to do this.”
Wright said that to his knowledge, the district has never had an issue with a transgender student wanting to use a different bathroom. He said he was concerned that the letter of guidance from federal authorities could prompt students to try to use different bathrooms “just to push the envelope.”
“We have, in all of our buildings, teachers’ lounges where there are independent restrooms,” Wright said. “If we were to encounter a student who has a problem identifying themselves, we would have a facility available.”
Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent Philip Hickman said his district also hasn’t had any issues, to his knowledge.
Hickman refrained from saying if CMSD would allow students to use different bathrooms. Instead, he said the matter is currently in the hands of CMSD’s legal department.
“What the U.S. Department of Education did was give us some guidance,” he said. “We’re going to talk with our legal department to see what we can do to better serve all children.”
Wright said he hoped “calmer heads” will prevail over the summer and let the issue die down. He said the matter is, for many people, more than just a political problem.
“For most people that live in our country, and especially the Bible Belt, this becomes a moral issue,” he said. “Our country has been on a downhill slide and people are going to have to take a stand if we want to save our country.”
Officials with the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District did not respond to requests for comment by press time today.
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