GLAD joined with the Transgender Law Center, National Center for LGBTQ Rights, and the firms of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Sigmon Law on an amicus brief on behalf of school administrators from 20 states – including most of New England – which was filed on June 24, 2016, in the federal court challenge to North Carolina’s HB2.

Each signatory works in a school or system that has adopted inclusive policies and practices for transgender students. Together, these individuals are responsible for more than 1.3 million students across the country.

The brief addresses the signatories’ rationales for adopting, and experience in implementing, policies and practices that respect transgender students’ gender identity.

These educators state that the accommodations are part of providing an optimal, welcoming learning environment all students. Respecting students’ gender identity eliminates the disruption that results from discrimination by teachers and peers and enhances the learning experience. When students are treated with respect by the administration, it communicates to them that they and other students deserve respect.

In the administrators’ experiences, very few students have expressed discomfort about sharing a restroom or locker room with a transgender person. In any event, the administrators can accommodate those concerns by, for example, providing curtains in a locker room, or access to private facilities that can be used by persons of any gender.

Having trans-inclusive facilities at schools prepare students for a world where they will share bathrooms and other facilities with transgender people, and allows transgender students to focus on school instead of worrying about which bathroom they will use.

Carcaño v. McCrory is brought by Lambda Legal and the ACLU.