Missouri School Locker Room Transgender Issue

There has been a stir in one Missouri school about a transgender young woman changing in the women’s locker room. Her presence made some of the cisgender females uncomfortable and about 200 walked out in protest. This isn’t the first time that transwomen have been involved in locker room problems. I suspect  that in all cases it has been pre-op transwomen, since post-op would tend to go unnoticed.

For the benefit of all concerned, there needs to be some privacy, which you have in most bathrooms, but not necessarily in locker rooms. The transgender student should NOT be forced to change in the locker room of their birth gender. For a pre-op transwoman, I have some sympathy though for those women who are uncomfortable seeing a penis in the women's locker room. I'm sure the student is NO danger to her fellow students, but I understand their discomfort in an open locker room environment. What kind of accommodation can be made to protect the transgender, make them feel comfortable, yet not make the cisgender uncomfortable?

Can we easily create a situation where we have more privacy for all students in the locker room? I know that would have some cost, but to me would be one solution. Given that physical education classes are mandatory for many years of school, could we have some alternatives for both transgender and cisgender that don’t require changing in an open locker room?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think many of the students are so much motivated by hatred as fear of that which they don't understand. It becomes an education process and allaying their fears. Simply dismissing them out of hand gets us nowhere positive. The student is indeed brave, and will need to continue to be brave in the face of the unreasoning fear by some of her fellow students. She must also be protected from abuse and bullying. Sensitivity training for all the students might be a good start. Teach them what transgender is really all about. Teach them acceptance and teach them accommodation.