Students should have one focus: school. But thanks (at least in part) to conservatives focusing on far-right and extremist policies around books, sports teams, and health care, many queer students are spending hours they should be putting toward education instead fighting for their rights. LGBTQ+ students suffer in school as it is, thanks to harassment, bullying, and isolation from their peers and even some teachers and coaches. All students, too, are impacted by threats like gun violence and the climate crisis. And for students of color and disabled students, for example, barriers and obstacles are even more extreme and structural.
Students shouldn’t have to walk out of school in defense of their rights. They shouldn’t need to protest discriminatory policies they aren’t even able to vote on. But they do and they are. One recent example comes to us out of Oklahoma, where students at two public high schools, Norman North and Norman High, walked out of class to protest the Republican anti-trans bathroom bill that’s already terrorizing trans students.
These students are brave, absolutely. And they shouldn’t have to be.
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"I’m tired of it,” junior Darcy Spivey, a student at Norman North High School, told local outlet KOCO in an interview. “Everyone I know is tired of it.”
Spivey has every right to be tired of it; all allies, advocates, and members of the queer community are likely getting pretty tired of this Republican onslaught of hate. In this specific situation, Senate Bill 615 requires that public school students in Oklahoma use the bathroom that correlates with their sex assigned at birth. Oklahoma public schools are required to adopt a disciplinary policy for students who violate the policy. If the school district doesn’t do so, then it can lose up to 5% of its state funding.
For trans and nonbinary students, this is a nightmare—using the bathroom that aligns with one’s sex assignment at birth could “out” many students and put them in danger. It can also be traumatic to be misgendered every time one needs to use the bathroom.
So it makes sense that at least one openly trans student, Emery Jenkins, simply continued to use the girl’s bathroom in spite of the unfair guidelines.
“It feels like a birthright,” Jenkins told local outlet OU Daily about her decision to keep using the women’s bathroom while at school, even though it led to three in-school suspensions since the school year started. She added that she is a woman, and thusly, she’s going to use the women’s bathroom.
“It’s unfair of them to take that away from me,” the sophomore continued. “I shouldn't have to leave for a select few who are uncomfortable.”
And she’s exactly right. And thankfully, she has peers—and parents, former students, and community members—behind her who are willing to back her up and protest. Students protested with chants like, “Trans people are not a threat, we are tired and upset,” which pretty much sums up the reality trans folks are living under thanks to conservatives in any given situation.
"I’ve started to slip in my classes due to the stress of just dealing with the next thing at school,” Jenkins told KOCO, adding that at this point, she’s missing valuable school time over her bathroom use.
To say it’s not fair feels too simplistic, but it’s also true. Students have so much on their shoulders as it is: COVID-19, school shootings, and yes, their homework. The United States has so much to reckon with to actually make schools safe and accessible for all students, and conservatives are making it that much harder with these pointless and outrageous anti-trans bills, whether they’re about bathrooms and locker rooms or sports or books. It’s all an attempt to demonize and isolate an already vulnerable population and it’s so cruel.
Most of these students aren’t old enough to vote, but those of us who can vote have to do so with these brave young people in mind. Young people are the future, but we can’t rely on their advocacy and optimism to carry us all the way.
You can watch some local footage from the protests below.
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