Allowing transgender pupil to use girls’ toilet causes upset
A KIWI teenager has spoken out about her school’s decision to allow a transgender pupil to use the girls’ toilets saying it was made without consultation and her rights were overlooked.
In a video titled Ask Me First About School Toilet Privacy, the girl, identified only as Laura, says the management’s decision to allow a transgender teenager, who was born male but identifies as female, to attend the allgirls’ school last year shocked her.
School leadership initially allowed the transgender pupil to use the genderneutral toilets, but the pupil successfully campaigned to access the girls’ toilets halfway through the school year.
Laura said it was then that she raised her concerns with the school’s management.
‘‘And at that point I was like ‘No, this isn’t right’,’’ she says in the video.
‘‘As a girl, I feel uncomfortable with a guy being in the same toilets [as me]. There are already genderneutral toilets in the school.
‘‘Girls going through puberty and stuff, it can be quite stressful and embarrassing. And knowing that there could be a guy that could walk in, it’s a little bit terrifying to think about that.’’
The school’s decision also put sexual abuse survivors at risk, Laura says. Seeing someone who was biologically male in the same toilet as them could also trigger trauma memories.
However, Laura says her concerns fell on deaf ears. The princi pal told her if she had a problem with being in the same toilet block as the other pupil, Laura could use the unisex toilets herself.
‘‘And that’s when I thought, ‘Hold on a minute. I’m at an allgirls’ school with these girls’ bathrooms and you’re telling me if I don’t want to use them I can go to a unisex toilet?’ It doesn’t make sense. It really doesn’t.’’
Laura’s mother also voices her opinion on the matter in the video, which lobby group Family First produced as part of a campaign to bar transgender females from using girls’ and women’s’ facilities such as toilets and changing rooms.
‘‘As a mother, when I found out about the issue I was extremely distraught and upset,’’ she said. — NZME