Francis Howell School District in Missouri held a hearing on a policy that would ban trans students from bathrooms of their gender identity
Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:
Francis Howell School District in Missouri, one of the state's largest, recently held a hearing regarding a new policy aimed at transgender students and their use of bathrooms. This policy seeks to prevent transgender youth from using restrooms that match their gender identity, while offering only limited alternative options. Additionally, the policy contains provisions concerning the presence of litter boxes in bathrooms, a baseless rumor circulated by several far-right anti-trans websites that has been proven to be a hoax. The school district is scheduled to vote on this policy in November. The new policy, Policy 2116, would mandate that transgender students may only utilize restrooms corresponding to the gender marker on their birth certificate. While it advises schools to establish a gender-neutral restroom, the policy only designates one such facility per school and does not require its presence on every floor. The limited availability of gender-neutral restrooms has previously sparked concerns. Relying solely on them can inadvertently disclose a student's transgender identity. Additionally, these facilities are often inconveniently located from classrooms and are occupied, leading to potential health complications from youth holding in their pee. Notably, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that “gender-neutral bathrooms” are not a constitutional substitute for allowing transgender individuals to use restrooms matching their gender identity due to these reasons.
The policy dismissively brushes aside these legitimate concerns. It goes so far as to penalize students for "abusing the privilege" of accessing single-use facilities after the imposed ban. If, for example, a student is repeatedly delayed due to the impracticality of such facilities, they risk being barred from using them altogether. This could result in some schools pushing trans students to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex assigned at birth, simply because the only facility provided is too out of the way for practical use.
The policy doesn't stop there. It specifically notes that "Except as necessary due to a physical or kinetic disability, only toilets and urinals shall be used to discharge human waste within restrooms or single-use restrooms." This seems to allude to the unfounded "litter boxes in classrooms" myth, propagated by Libs of TikTok—a right-wing account notorious for fueling transphobic harassment and violence. The claim is that students “identifying as cats” have demanded litter boxes. To this day, no verified incidents of litter boxes being used in schools exist, except for an isolated case in the late 2010s where kitty litter was stored in classrooms as a precautionary measure during school shootings.
Francis Howell School District in St. Charles County, Missouri is proposing an outrageous anti-trans policy that mandates trans students use bathrooms matching their gender assigned at birth. The district is also allowing the option of a gender-neutral bathroom, but in reality, such options are very limited and inconvenient.
The policy also alludes to the debunked litter box hoax with this line: "Except as necessary due to a physical or kinetic disability, only toilets and urinals shall be used to discharge human waste within restrooms or single-use restrooms."
These adults should be very ashamed of themselves for treating students this way. The only real problem is that they don't have enough brains to recognize their perversity.













