MILFORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire school board has reversed a policy banning middle and high school students from using urinals after dozens protested the measure, which had been a compromise to a proposal that would have blocked students from using facilities based on their gender identity.
Students at Milford Middle School and Milford High School can still access the bathroom that “corresponds to their gender identity consistently asserted at school.”
But at its Feb. 6 meeting, the school board debated a proposal that would require students to use the restroom and locker room of their assigned sex at birth. The proposal upset transgender students, gender nonconforming students and their supporters.
The ban on urinals approved by the board was offered as a compromise measure to the proposal. It also capped the maximum occupancy for bathrooms and locker rooms at the number of stalls each contains, and prohibited students from using shared changing areas.
Dozens of students walked out several days later.
Milford School District Superintendent Christi Michaud said school officials also received emails and phone calls opposing the ban, which led to Wednesday night’s vote.
“The board has listened to folks,” Michaud told WMUR-TV.
Republicans across the country have been pushing anti-transgender legislation. While New Hampshire bans discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations, state lawmakers are considering legislation that says public entities are capable of “differentiating between the male and female sexes in athletic competitions, criminal incarceration, or places of intimate privacy.”
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