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Students at a New Hampshire middle and high school staged a walkout after the school board banned shared urinals and locker rooms amid a dispute over separating bathrooms based on sex rather than gender identity.
The protest started on Friday, lasted about 45 minutes, with more than 150 students walking out of Milford Middle and High School in opposition to the new restrictions on going to the bathroom.
Student Jay Remella said WMUR: ‘No one I know of – ask someone here – no one requested this change.’ He also said that many were unaware of the new policy and that it was made “only by the school board member and a parent complaint.”
Friday’s demonstration comes after a lengthy board of education debate over whether to segregate school bathrooms and locker rooms by sex assigned at birth or by gender identity, the boston globe informed.
Board of Education member Noah Boudreault proposed a urinal ban as part of a “compromise,” which was accepted by a 4-1 vote Monday.
Friday’s demonstration comes after a lengthy board of education debate over whether to segregate school bathrooms and locker rooms by sex assigned at birth or by gender identity, The Boston Globe reported.
Superintendent Christi Michaud told the news outlet that many students, especially male high school students, raised concerns and raised questions about recently placed bathroom restrictions on her team members.
“They feel like there wasn’t a problem or a concern here at the high school,” he said.
She said the stricter rules could cause bathroom bottlenecks and take time away from the classroom, but said school staff are working to comply with the board’s directive.
Sixteen-year-old transgender student Nico Romeri spoke at a school board meeting on February 6 urging them to reject the ban.
He expressed concern that the policies could have a negative impact on the mental health of LGBTQ students in the district.
He said that he and other queer students just want to be treated the same as cisgender high school students.
“I want my high school experience to be like everyone else’s, like getting my license, taking biology classes, and working out my life, not fighting for it,” the sophomore said.
The teen also told school leaders and parents that they “shouldn’t let fear dictate their actions.”
“I see all these scared people on both sides who don’t know what to do but want to help their children in different ways,” she said.
‘The best way you can help your children is not to discriminate against your peers, but to listen and help your child grow. That’s all we want.
After the plan was announced, Romeri later told the Globe that he was glad to see the school board settled on a compromise plan, though he views the plan itself as unnecessary.
Sixteen-year-old transgender student Nico Romeri spoke at a school board meeting on February 6 urging the school board to reject the ban. He expressed concern that the policies could have a negative impact on the mental health of LGBTQ students in the district.
Middle school and high school students outside Milford HS gather in protest to oppose the ban
Signs, ‘We Want Urinals’ showing their outrage at the new bathroom restrictions which many students said they were never informed of the
There are 1,200 middle and high school students.
Most of the stalls are designated for girls, and those positions are not spread evenly across schools and genders, according to The Boston Globe.
The ban replaced an earlier proposal by Vice President Nathaniel Wheeler to separate bathrooms and locker rooms strictly based on students’ assigned gender at birth, which was criticized by LQBTQ students, the news outlet reported.
In addition to excluding the use of urinals, Boudreault’s plan also prevents students from using shared changing areas in school locker rooms. Students changing clothes for physical education class are told to do so in a bathroom.
However, the maximum occupancy for each school restroom and locker room is determined by the number of stalls there are.
Boudreault told the Globe that “the issue at hand is student safety.”
He told the news outlet that he doesn’t consider LGBTQ youth or their peers to be inherently dangerous, but noted that something needed to be done, citing concerns raised about Wheeler’s proposal, student privacy, and bathroom access in general. which would essentially help Milford schools. deal with other problems,” she said, like students vaping.
“The solution I proposed addressed a host of other issues the school district is experiencing,” she said, “so instead of fighting the gender fight, I decided to fight the bigger fight.”