Local school districts largely compliant as state mandates gender-neutral restrooms

With the announcement of new state legislation that expands an existing bill approved in 2013, local districts say they are either in the assessment stage to ensure compliance or are already offering gender-neutral restrooms on their campuses.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new bill into law last Saturday. It requires every K-12 public and private school to provide and maintain at least one gender-neutral restroom on campus for student usage by 2026.

State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), in a statement introducing bill SB 760 in February, said the new law expands on previous protections afforded by AB 1266, which allows students to compete on sports teams and use facilities on the basis of their gender identity.

“Schools should provide a safe and inclusive environment for all students, one where they’re able to focus on learning and where they’re encouraged to thrive academically, socially and emotionally. Let’s face it — at some point during a typical eight-hour school day, everyone is going to have to go,” Newman stated. “By requiring all California K-12 schools to provide gender-inclusive restroom facilities on campus, we’ll ensure the well-being of our LGBTQ+ and nonbinary students and ensure safer school communities for everyone.”

In a 2017 report issued by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, an organization that works to end discrimination and harassment against LGBTQ+ students in K-12 schools, about 42.7% of the 23,001 students surveyed said they avoided restrooms on campuses because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

Area school districts largely already have the gender-neutral restrooms or stalls available to students, according to their spokespersons. None confirmed how many such restrooms or individual stalls there currently are but said there is availability on every campus.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District reported it has had single-stall gender-neutral restrooms available to students throughout the district for a number of years.

Huntington Beach City School District spokeswoman Adriana Angulo also confirmed her district offers gender-neutral restrooms but said officials there are “in the initial planning stages to assess the necessary steps for compliance” with the latest legislation.

In the Laguna Beach Unified School District, director of facilities Ryan Zajda said gender-neutral restrooms have been available on every campus in the district and have been since at least 2017, “and we remain committed to enhancing these facilities further with each new construction project. Every time there is a new project, we look for opportunities to add single-stall restrooms so that they are available throughout the district.”

Multiple inquiries to Ocean View and Huntington Beach Union High school districts as to whether or not their campuses have gender-neutral restrooms that meet state requirements went unanswered.

The new legislation comes as student rights to privacy are debated by parents, school districts and the state and the nearby Orange Unified School District has adopted a parental notification policy for when students identify as transgender in early September. That notification policy, in addition to a number of other details, also precludes student efforts to participate in athletic activities or use facilities that don’t align with the sex noted on their birth certificate.