PALMER, Alaska — In what appears to be a first for Alaska, transgender students in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District are now banned from using bathrooms and changing facilities that match their gender identity.
That's despite protests that the policy could violate federal anti-discrimination laws. The decision also complicates a fundraising effort to create an all-gender restroom at Colony High School.
Reports of a "boy" using a Colony girls locker room — most likely a transgender girl, advocates say — triggered an outcry by hundreds of parents. At a packed a Mat-Su school board meeting last month, the board adopted a temporary policy overturning guidelines in place for more than seven years.
