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Teachers will soon have to inform parents if students identify as transgender. Some worry abuse will follow
By: Theo Peck-Suzuki | Report for America
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GLOUSTER, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — When 14-year-old Willow Grimm first came out as transgender, what mattered the most was her parents’ approval.
“It was very important that I had a good home life. It didn’t matter about my social life at all. I wanted a good home life before anything else,” Grimm said.
Grimm is a student at Trimble Local Schools. With her parents supporting her, she said, life is pretty good.
“There was some backlash when I first came out when I was 11, but other than that it’s mostly been fine,” she said.
The “backlash” included one student who tried to attack her (Grimm said she knew how to protect herself through self-defense classes) and an uncomfortable moment in which a man in a car stopped her on the street to ask if she was “that trans kid.” The man got out of his car and tried to approach Grimm before her father stopped him.
Grimm said having her parents’ approval has made all the difference for her. She’s met other people whose parents reacted with hostility to their child’s coming out. The outcome was not positive.
“Not only have I seen that break them, but I’ve seen how badly it plays into their life,” Grimm said.
That’s why Grimm is concerned about House Bill 8, which the Ohio General Assembly passed in December and Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law in January. Known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, it requires teachers to inform parents of any changes to a student’s “mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.” This includes “any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student’s biological sex.”
In other words, the bill requires teachers to tell parents if their child identifies as transgender. The requirement will take effect on July 1.
Springer said the district has asked if teachers must still report in cases where they believe the student is likely to experience physical harm as a result.
“The answer is undoubtedly ‘yes,’” Springer said.
Springer said he knows of specific students facing this very situation. The district will have to notify their parents starting July 1, with potentially violent repercussions.
Grimm expressed similar concerns about the new law.
“I do not think that, in any way, shape or form, that a teacher should out a child to their parents,” she said. “Some people aren’t out to their parents because it could hurt their home life, whether that be physically or mentally.”
Grimm said it’s common for kids to come out to teachers before parents.
“Sometimes, it’s just hard to tell your parents about a certain thing,” Grimm said. “Almost everyone, including me — I told teachers before I told my parents.”
House Bill 8 received overwhelming criticism from the public in the days before its passage. About 170 people testified in opposition during its final committee hearing on Dec. 10. Many expressed concern that the bill would have precisely the impact Springer now says it will have. The bill passed the House and Senate two days later.
Springer said the bill raises other questions for the district and its staff.
“If I’m an educator and … I know that child is going to be harmed … number one, that’s a huge moral dilemma, and number two, am I at liable risk for knowingly putting a child in harm?” Springer said.
He said he’s also not clear on whether the bill requires teachers to notify parents about other forms of LGBTQ identity — for example, if a student comes out as gay.
WOUB reached out to elected officials from southeast Ohio who voted in favor of House Bill 8 to get clarification on the new law. Sen. Brian Chavez declined to comment. Senator Shane Wilkins, Rep. Don Jones and Rep. Jason Stephens did not respond.
Another new law restricts bathroom use
Springer said he also has concerns about how another new law will affect transgender students. Senate Bill 104, which includes a law known as the “bathroom bill,” requires students to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex at birth. Springer said this reverses guidance the district has operated under since the Obama administration.
“We have students who have always used the bathroom of the gender they identify with. And we pull that back from them — for that child, it is concerning,” Springer said. “We’ve allowed them to do this, had no complaints, and now they’re being told they’re wrong.”
Grimm, whose birth certificate lists her as male, said she willingly kept using the boys’ bathroom after coming out. Ironically, she had to stop after the school received a complaint.
“A mother went and complained that a trans kid was going into the guys’ bathroom. And she did not like it, because I was too feminine and her child was getting weirded out by it,” Grimm said. “So then I moved to using the locker rooms, ’cause no one ever used them.”
After SB 104 passed, Grimm was told to use the boys’ bathroom again. It didn’t take long for more complaints to come in.
“So I had to move back to the locker room,” Grimm said.
Grimm said she’d love to see Trimble get a gender-neutral bathroom. In the meantime, she said, she encourages people to ask questions.
“It’s good to ask people about their gender,” she said. “Just so they can not only talk about it with someone, but to explain it and try and get them to understand.”