Andraya Williams, a 22-year-old transwoman at Central Piedmont Community College (NC), says that she was suspended from the school for using the women’s restroom until she agrees to use only the school’s gender-neutral restrooms. School spokesman Jeff Lowrance says that technically she hasn’t been suspended. According to Lowrance, much of the campus lacks gender-neutral restrooms. One of the school’s deans demanded that Williams “bring in medical proof of being a female if she wanted to use the female restroom.” Williams reported that Leon Matthews, the school’s Office of Equal Opportunity director, “told me I have ‘no rights legally,’ because I am transgender and that if I file a complaint it could ‘cost someone a job.'”
Last Friday, students at her college held a rally to protest Williams’ treatment. Signs demanded CPCC take action for transgender inclusion and safety in policies and staff training.
