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MILFORD, Feb. 11 (AP) Dozens of students walked out of New Hampshire schools following a compromise over a ban on urinals in New Hampshire schools that would have prevented children from using facilities based on their gender identity.
The school board’s decision to ban students at Milford Middle School and Milford High School from using urinals or common spaces in locker rooms came days before Friday’s strike.
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The ban in a town of about 15,000 people about 35 miles (56 kilometers) from the state capital Concord is the culmination of a long-running debate over district rules about bathroom use and gender identity.
Students have access to restrooms that “conform to their consistently asserted gender identity at school,” district procedures say.
This procedure still applies. But a proposal to the school board calls for students to no longer be allowed to use school bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity. Board member Noah Boudreault said his proposed urinal restrictions were a compromise.
“I want to make it clear that this is a compromise on both sides of the issue,” Boudreau said. “It went into effect last week.”
Under the new policy, the maximum occupancy of each bathroom and changing room will be capped by the number of cubicles it contains. It also prevents students from using shared changing areas.
The students demonstrated for about 45 minutes after the strike. Some held signs, at least one of which read: “We want urinals.”
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow public entities to “distinguish between men and women at sporting events, criminal incarceration or in intimate settings.” (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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