Praise for N.J. schools' transgender bathroom policies | Editorial

East Windsor, PrincetonWest Windsor-Plainsboro and now Hopewell Valley are among school districts in the area with the vision to adopt policies making life more livable for transgender students.

Their approach is as simple as it is compassionate: A transgender person should use the restroom that corresponds with his or her gender identity.

Years from now, historian will scratch their heads and wonder how this basic civil rights issue got so tangled up in bathroom politics - and why fear and hysteria won out over common sense for so long.

Earlier this spring, North Carolina passed a highly controversial and ugly law banning transgender people from using public bathroom for the gender they identify with.

Members of the LGBT community and their advocates were justifiably outraged, charging that the measure not only subjects transgender individuals to dangerous harassment, but also denies basic human rights to an entire class of people.

Soon after North Carolina adopted its misguided measure, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie said he would be unlikely to support a similar bill here. It was a welcome and gutsy move by a GOP governor, especially since it was a fellow Republican, Gov. Pat McGrory, who signed the legislation into law in his state to our south.

Two weeks ago, the Obama administration weighed in with a directive that public schools must permit transgender students to use the facilities that are consistent with their identities. On Wednesday, officials in 11 states sued the administration to overturn the move.

Safety, privacy and comfort are the paramount concerns, as the Hopewell Township school board recognized when it crafted its new policies in conjunction with Garden State Equality, a statewide group advocating for LGBT rights.

Under the new guidelines, expected to be implemented on June 20, students will be able to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. They also have the option of using a single-stall, gender-neutral restroom when one is available.

The matter takes on added urgency at the middle- and high-school levels, where transgender youths too often are vulnerable to the bullying and unthinking aggression of their peers.

Look, we get it that people are uncomfortable with difference. Change comes hard. But what's really shameful is how the extreme right wing is capitalizing on that inherent fear, suggesting that unfettered bathroom access by transgender people somehow puts the entire population at risk.

In reality, it's the transmen and the transwomen who have the most to fear from an ignorant and biased society, especially in the xenophobic, hate-filled climate that's come to define our 2016 presidential election season.

The local school districts deserve thanks for pointing the way out of this wilderness.

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