(From left) Jocelyn Kuh, Nate Quinn, and Julie Shoults
Last week, Sarasota students began a campaign to end discrimination against transgender students at Pine View and throughout Sarasota County schools. Trans student Nate Quinn and his fellow activists, Julie Shoults and Jocelyn Kuh, decided to take action after Quinn faced over a year of unequal treatment from Pine View administration and harassment from classmates.
The Facebook event page for their call-in day quickly attracted over 400 participants, thousands of views, and dozens of statements of solidarity and support. Several LGBTQ graduates of Pine View even posted about the discrimination they faced as students, while hundreds of alumni signed an open letter to the school.
“Pine View School has set an environment tolerant of transphobia, forcing its many trans identifying students to be subjected to blatant discrimination by the administration, teachers, and students,” said Quinn. “This cannot continue at Pine View, and I will continue to fight for my own rights and the rights of other trans students until we succeed.”
The campaign achieved its first victory on Friday when Pine View Principal Dr. Stephen Covert reversed school policy and granted equal bathroom access to trans students. However, Quinn and his supporters still want to see broader changes at the school, such as a comprehensive anti-harassment policy, equal locker room access, and greater access to supportive faculty and staff for transgender students.
“Using the bathroom is a basic right that all students should be allowed to have. Feeling protected and included on campus is a right of all students. When a school fails to provide these rights, they cannot call themselves a school with ‘A Tradition of Excellence,’” said Kuh.
The students have set their sights on Sarasota County School Board as well. They are demanding that all schools in Sarasota County adopt policies to protect transgender and gender nonconforming students.
A hostile climate at Pine View
Quinn, 17, began dressing in a “masculine” fashion and cut his hair short at the age of 14. Identifying at the time as a lesbian, he still was not comfortable with his gender identity and would experience great joy when people in public identified him as a man. One day, his younger sister introduced him to trans Youtuber Alex Bertie. It was an “aha” moment for Quinn.
He came out to a small circle of friends, then two months later to his parents. That week, his parents attended a group session for transgender kids’ parents led by Quinn’s now-therapist. After struggling for months with his pronouns and his name, Quinn’s supportive parents are now at a place he considers “almost perfect.”
In January, 2015, Quinn came out as transgender to school counselor Lynn Halcomb, who told him that he should “expect bullying” because of his “choice” to be trans. Meanwhile, Covert banned Quinn from using the men’s bathroom.
In December, several students started bullying Quinn, using his birth name, misgendering him with the wrong pronouns, and teasing him about his “sensitivity.” When Quinn went to school counselor Paula Lindsey, Lindsey told him, “We need to make you stronger so when things like this happen it doesn’t affect you so much.”
At the same time, Pine View took no substantial disciplinary action against the offending students and made no statement about the bullying despite the fact that it took place on the Class of 2016’s Facebook page. When Quinn’s friend and advocate, Julie Shoults, filed a strongly worded witness report, the administration retaliated by suspending her for several days.
This month, Covert once again denied Quinn’s request for access to the men’s bathroom. According to Covert, trans students could not use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity because Pine View “is a grades 2-12 school” and he also did not want parents to “call and complain.”
“It’s discrimination against trans people. It’s the only reason he has for not letting me use the restrooms that all the other students can. It hurts me a lot. It affects my self-confidence,” Quinn told Liberation. “I’ve been on testosterone for six months now and I’m getting to a place where I’m pretty happy with where I am. To still be treated seriously unequally is kinda crushing.”
Studies by organizations such as GLSEN, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, show that hostile school climates have especially negative repercussions on the academic success and mental health of transgender and gender nonconforming students.
“The ideology that Pine View has presented is that trans students do not deserve basic human privileges or protection, because they made a ‘decision’ and must face the consequences,” said Shoults. “Pine View administrators need to become more aware of issues facing trans students, so they can guarantee the best and most welcoming atmosphere.”
National gains for trans students
The campaign comes at a time when students around the country are pushing back against transphobic and discriminatory school policies. In Maine, Colorado, California, and elsewhere, there have been important victories.
In G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board, a case destined for the Supreme Court, 16-year-old trans student Gavin Grimm has filed a lawsuit against his school’s trans-exclusionary bathroom policy. It argues that the Virginia school’s policy is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment and violates Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination by schools.
The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice have thrown their support behind Grimm, indicating that trans students may soon make important advancements around the country.
