High school students in New Hampshire staged a walkout in opposition to an uncommon compromise that forbade the use of restrooms that correlate with biological sex, according to WMUR on Friday.
The agreement prohibits kids from utilizing urinals and common areas in locker rooms; eventually, all stalls in restrooms and locker rooms will be enclosed.
Lena Silva, a student at Milford High School, told WMUR, “As a girl, I don’t think it’s safe to have boys in our restroom.”
Student Autumn Diveley told the station, “This is creating a complex system of unfairness for our LGBTQ+ pupils.” Diveley said, “Noone ever asked for this.”
Students held posters that said “we demand urinals” and “where is our vote?” during the demonstration on Friday.
According to the Nashua Telegraph, Milford School Board Chairman Judi Zaino stated, “We’re attempting to make it work for everybody.”
Zaino was making a statement on the “sometimes tearful” comments given at the well-attended Milford School Board meeting before the student walkout.
“We’re testing things out. We are unsure if this will be successful,” Zaino said.
According to the Telegraph, children, parents, lawmakers, teachers, and locals, all showed up to attend the school board meeting on Monday night.
The district’s still-in-effect policy allowing children to use the restroom that “corresponds to their gender identification consistently declared at school” was at issue, according to ABC News.
Students would have had to use the restroom that matched their biological sex under an unimplemented policy that was suggested.
The school board decided to remove urinals and enclose toilet and locker room stalls as a compromise on Monday, according to The Telegraph. Additionally, the measure only allows as many kids as there are stalls in each restroom.
During the discussion, speakers shared a range of viewpoints on the suggested policies.
While some speakers criticized the new regulations as being biased and even posing a “suicide danger,” others backed them as a way to safeguard young women’s and girls’ right to privacy and security when using the toilet or changing clothes.
The original proposal to force children to use toilets that match to biological sex was made by school board member Nathaniel Wheeler, according to the Telegraph. He apparently voted against the compromise bill due to its $30k projected cost.
Noah Boudreault, a member of the school board, suggested a solution that would eliminate urinals, enclose stalls, and prohibit the use of shared changing spaces in locker rooms.
According to Noah Boudreault of the Milford School Board, “I want to be clear, it was a compromise to all sides of this issue.”