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Hillsboro High School Transgender Bathroom: Lila Perry Debate Prompts Massive Walkout

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 03:55 PST, Sep 1, 2015

The Hillsboro High School transgender bathrooms controversy sparked a student walkout on Monday. Missouri senior transgender student Lila Perry’s request to use both the girls bathroom and locker room at the pubic school ignited the heated debate and mass walkout.

During the past school year, Lila Perry, born a genetic male, came out as transgender after previously coming out as a gay male. When the new school year started, Hillsboro High School officials decided that Perry would no longer be able to use the faculty unisex bathroom, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Lila Perry did not agree with the decision and stated a desire to be treated like all the other “female students” at the Jefferson County, Missouri, high school. Students upset over the possibility of Perry using the girls bathroom and locker room staged a mass walkout in protest. The transgender student was reportedly locked in the principal’s office for safety reasons during the protest, Fox2Now reports.

The Hillsboro High School transgender bathroom walkout occurred shortly after a standing room only school board meeting. A large crowd of parents voiced concerns that Lila Perry was getting “special rights” at the expense of the other students at the school. A small group reportedly attended the meeting in support of the transgender bathroom debate.

https://youtu.be/pVkhWUZjl70

“The girls have rights, and they shouldn’t have to share a bathroom with a boy,” Hillsboro High School parent Tammy Sorden, who has a son at the school, said during the meeting.

Sorden added that while it is just fine to be different, special treatment should not be offered to Perry. The parent also said that girls enrolled in the Jefferson County public school should not have to “suck it up” and share a bathroom or locker room with the transgender student.

Supporters of the transgender student maintained Perry was not comfortable going back to the school. Perry reportedly dropped out of gym class because an alleged lack of supervision makes the student uncomfortable.

“I wasn’t hurting anyone. I didn’t want to be in something gender-neutral,” Perry said, in reference to using the unisex faculty bathroom.”I am a girl. I am not going to be pushed away to another bathroom.”

https://youtu.be/ZYACMsDPlwc

What do you think about the Hillsboro High School transgender bathroom debate and the refusal by Perry to use the unisex bathroom?

[Image via Shutterstock]

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