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Ky. bill targets transgender students by restricting facilities to biological sex

Ky. bill targets transgender students by restricting facilities to biological sex

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would ban transgender students from using school restrooms that don’t correspond to their biological sex.

C.B. Embry Jr.
C.B. Embry Jr.

The “Kentucky Student Privacy Act,” proposed by State Sen. C.B. Embry Jr. (R-Morgantown) would allow parents to sue the school for $2,500 if their child encountered a transgender student in a school restroom or locker room if staff have allowed it or failed to prohibit it.

The offending school, the bill notes, would be required to pay the attorney fees and costs associated with the claim.

“Parents have a reasonable expectation that schools will not allow minor children to be viewed in various states of undress by members of the opposite biological sex, nor allow minor children to view members of the opposite sex in various states of undress,” the bill states.

The Courier Journal reports the bill comes in response to a Louisville high school that approved a policy on transgender students’ rights last fall.

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The policy at Atherton High School bars discrimination of school spaces by gender identity, and allows transgender students to use the facilities according to the gender they identify with.

In November, the Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Ky., formed a districtwide committee to examine measures to better accommodate students who are LGBT.

Embry’s bill, backed by the Family Foundation of Kentucky, would allow transgender students to ask for special accommodations, such as a unisex bathroom.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights issued guidance under its Title IX programs extending federal civil rights protections to transgender students, but did not offer specific advice on the use of school facilities.

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