Accommodations urged for transgender students in Volusia County schools
Written by: Al Everson
Transgender-rights advocates are asking the Volusia County School Board to allow students to use restrooms of their choosing.
Robert Byrd of Deltona described his son as “a strapping guy with facial hair” who was born female. After being harassed and even slapped in the girl’s bathroom at school, Byrd said, his son now uses the administrators’ restroom.
"For years my child has been required to use a bathroom separate from other students," Byrd said.
At its Sept. 23 meeting, the School Board heard calls to let male students who identify as females, and vice versa, use restrooms labeled differently from their birth sex. "More and more transgender people are coming out at a younger age," Gina Duncan of Equality Florida told the School Board. "While corporate America is working to embrace transgender policies, school districts are lagging behind."