Students in Milford, New Hampshire, staged a mass walkout during school hours to protest new rules from their school board that would, among other things, ban the use of urinals on school property. This ban on urinals was part of a larger set of new rules the Milford School Board created in response to lengthy debates about bathroom use and gender identity. Board members claimed that the new rules represent a compromise, but students aren't having it.
Although Milford is a small town with only about 1,200 students enrolled in the middle and high school, it has been dealing with the same kinds of debates about how to create policies around bathroom usage for students whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth that are happening all over the country. According to current district policy, students may use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity, but a recent proposal before the school sought to change that and to force students to use the bathroom based on their sex assigned at birth.
The school board attempt at a compromise has students and teachers upset.
The district's revised policy — which stems from complaints from a few parents — bans all students from using urinals or any other shared locker room spaces, the Associated Press reported. Given that the urinals already exist and were previously in use, the temporary solution was to cover them with trash bags to prevent students from accessing them.
WMUR reported that the ban was immediately unpopular with some parents, teachers, and school leaders, who said it's "affecting students' work in the classroom." Students argue that the changes in rules are unnecessary and took to the sidewalk in protest.
Students argue that there was no reason for the change other than to discriminate against LGBT students.
Student Autumn Diveley, who participated in the 45-minute protest, was interviewed by WMUR and said this isn't what the students wanted.
"Nobody but the few parents who complained to the school board asked for this," she said. She further explained that the new policy "is creating just a complex system of inequality within our LGBTQ+ students."
Many of the students also expressed solidarity with their LGBTQ classmates and carried signs to assure them that they weren't to blame for the ban on urinals and shared locker room spaces. "This policy was not in any way the LGBTQ community's fault at our school," said student Jay Remella via WMUR.
The protest seems to have worked as the school board will meet again to discuss the ban.
Superintendent Christi Mishaud acknowledged in an interview with WMUR that there is "a lot of passion on both sides of this conversation" and that finding "a sort of win-win or a compromise is really hard to do," especially given the budget realities of extensive bathroom renovations some parents want.
Members of the school board did have praise for the way the students handled the peaceful protest. School board member Joseph Vitulli explained to WMUR that "My personal opinion is that the students' actions speak for how they feel about the bathroom situation and that it's clear the board must deal with this issue ASAP. The idea of immediately changing was not well thought out by the board, and we need to fix the situation."
The Milford School Board will meet again February 20 but some sources suggest that the urinal ban might get revoked even before then.
