Oregon creates guidelines for new protections of trans students in state

By John Mack Freeman

New guidelines from the Oregon Department of Education encourage educators throughout the state to create new protections for trans students. The document runs 15 pages and was created as a response to districts in the state needing advice on how to handle these emerging issues. The document recommends districts allow students to use appropriate bathrooms and locker rooms, that they be allowed to participate in sports that match their identity, and that educators refer to students by their preferred names and pronouns without the student having to prove that a legal change has taken place.

Via Oregon Live:

Oregon’s document does not lay out punishments for districts that ignore its suggestions, but U.S. Department of Education regulators have warned schools in other states that they could lose federal funding if they discriminate against transgender students.

Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York’s departments of educations have released similar guidelines.

Though bathrooms have garnered much of the national debate about transgender students, Oregon’s document reaches far beyond those gendered facilities.

Under Oregon’s guidelines, transgender students should be allowed to change their names and pronouns, even if they have no proof that they intend to transition. The state says also educators should use the name a transgender student prefers — even if it does not match their legal name.

 

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