A Pennsylvania school district just north of Philadelphia has passed a restroom policy based "anatomy at birth" this week.
The new rule passed Monday by the Perkiomen Valley School Board will limit multi-user restrooms based on the user's gender at birth, but single-use bathrooms will still be available to be used by any student, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday.
The 5-4 vote came after an objection from the father of a distressed daughter concerned about a boy in the girls room and subsequent protests and debate.
Protesting students walked out of the high school in September, holding signs that read "Respect girls' rights" and "Stay in your bathroom," according to the report.
Transgender students protested the new rule, saying it is discriminatory, the Inquirer reported.
"There is no legal basis for a district to refuse students' right to use the bathroom or locker room that aligns with their gender identity," Education Law Center's Ashli Giles-Perkins told the paper. "We are appalled that districts like Perkiomen Valley have adopted discriminatory policies aimed squarely at trans and nonbinary students."
Giles-Perkins wants the rule reversed and is calling on the Pennsylvania Department of Education to deliver "long-overdue guidance that reflects federal guidelines to protect, not cause additional harm to, transgender and nonbinary youth," according to the report.
"For some, it's not a big deal — they've been using single-user facilities," Superintendent Barbara Russell told the paper. "For others, it will be a change."
Only about 1% of Perkiomen Valley High School's 1,700 students are transgender, according to Russell.
"What we expect is that our students will follow the rules, staff will uphold the rules and redirect students if necessary," Russell said. "At this point, our staff have not been assigned to monitor restroom use."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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