Baltimore City Public Schools Sparks Controversy Over Transgender Bathroom Policy In Staff Training Video

Baltimore City Public Schools sparked controversy after a video of a staff training session resurfaced online. The video, which was taken by someone undergoing the training, specifically referred to a question regarding transgender students using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. It was not the question itself that proved controversial, but the answer that was tagged as the correct response to the highlighted scenario.

The question stated:

If other students feel uncomfortable with a transgender student using a restroom consistent with their gender identity, should the school prohibit the transgender student from using the bathroom?

• No. The discomfort of other students is not a reason to deny access to the transgender student.
• Yes. This would be the best way to resolve the concern from other students.
• Yes, unless the transgender student obtains an official court order changing their name and gender.

The video showed the responded submitting the first answer and the training module accepting it as the right answer. This sparked outrage, with the caption stating, “Baltimore City Public Schools is training staff that students can use whatever bathroom aligns with their ‘gender identity’ and if other students are uncomfortable with it, it’s too bad on them. The trans/nonbinary student’s feelings comes first.”

Since 2019, various school districts across the country have complied with the transgender directive, including Baltimore City Public Schools. However, the training seemed to overlook the directive’s most important guidance, which maintained: “For students who are uncomfortable in shared locker rooms, the school should provide “a safe and non-stigmatizing private alternative space.’”

The guidance also adds that schools should select one restroom that can be used by a single person at a time and designate it as a unisex restroom. It is unclear why the training manual failed to provide these as alternative answers, and the school district has yet to respond to our requests for comment regarding the matter.

Gender identity has become a controversial issue in public schools across the country, especially pertaining to transgender and nonbinary students. In 2017, a student in Boyertown Area School District, Pennsylvania, sued the district for its policy allowing transgender students to use the bathroom that aligned to their gender identity. The supreme court declined to take action in 2019, essentially upholding the district’s bathroom policy.

On July 10, 2023, a Wisconsin school board was dealt a blow after a federal judge blocked their decision to require transgender students to use bathrooms that aligned with the assigned gender at birth. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled that the Mukwonago Area School District had to allow a transgender student to use facilities that aligned with their gender identity as a lawsuit between the student and school district played out.

It is unclear how school districts will eventually implement policies that protect innocent students who wish to maintain their privacy in bathrooms, but concrete action is of utmost importance.