The Villages Rainbow Family and Friends is urging members to take a stand in the Marion County School Board transgender bathroom debate.
The Marion County School Board has voted 4-1 to prohibit transgendered students from using the bathrooms they prefer to use.
The Villages Rainbow Family and Friends has sent an email to school board members, asking them to vote against “this extreme attack on transgender and gender nonconforming students in Marion County.”
The Villages LGBT organization also argued in their letter that the potential ban violates laws against sex discrimination in education, such as Title IX of the Education Amendment Act and Title IV of the Civil Rights Act.
Villager Peggy Garvin of the Rainbow Family and Friends said she could not believe the actions of the school board.
“I’m disgusted,” said Garvin. She stated that the kids were just “trying to figure out who they are.”
Garvin also explained that she cited the recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruling, which enabled a Virginia transgendered high school student to use the preferred bathroom, in her letter to the board to indicate that states nationwide are on board with permitting transgendered students to use bathrooms of the gender with which they identify.
In response, a member of the board said that the other state cases had nothing to do with them.
Garvin believes the school board is wasting their time by “traumatizing kids” and could potentially lose federal funds through liabilities. She also shared that it was an invasion of privacy for transgendered students who would want to use the bathroom like anyone else.
“They didn’t choose it. They were born this way. You have to be sensitive and understanding,” said Garvin about the transgender community.
While the board appears to be steadfast in proceeding with the ban, Garvin continues to encourage people to speak out against the decision.
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