![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/TedCruz-TransgenderRestroom-CurtSchillingAd-LittleGirlsFeetMansLegs-04252016-Screenshot-810px-CROP_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/a><\/p>\nCalvin Freiburger
\nLifeSite News<\/p>\n
SARASOTA, Florida, November 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews<\/a>) \u2013 Pro-LGBT forces won a narrow victory Tuesday at the Sarasota County School Board, despite numerous parents attending a board meeting to express displeasure at both the content and handling of new guidelines for students suffering from gender confusion.<\/p>\n Released last month and devised by an \u201cLGBTQIA Task Force,\u201d the guidelines (download link here<\/a>) purport to help \u201cmake each Sarasota K-12 public school a safer place for all students \u2013 with particular emphasis on LGBTQIA community of students.\u201d<\/p>\n The document defines \u201cgender\u201d as a \u201csocial construct\u201d different from \u201cbiological sex\u201d; calls for addressing \u201ctransgender\u201d students by their \u201cname and gender requested\u201d and allows them to wear whatever clothes match their \u201cconsistently asserted gender identity\u201d; and guarantees them \u201cequitable\u201d access to extracurricular activities and programs.<\/p>\n More significantly, it also pledges to accommodate students \u201cwho want to use the locker room in accordance with their consistently asserted gender identity,\u201d as well as to guarantee their inclusion in overnight field trips.<\/p>\n \u201cAccommodations may be made for any student with privacy concerns (i.e., a bathroom stall with a door), a slightly modified schedule, or a separate changing schedule,\u201d it adds. Transgender participation in overnight trips \u201ccan require some planning to ensure affirmed name, gender pronouns, room assignments, chaperones and showers are accurate and aligned with the student\u2019s core gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite vague commitments to address \u201csafety\u201d and \u201cprivacy concerns,\u201d the guidelines do not specifically guarantee a student\u2019s right not to share intimate facilities with members of the opposite sex.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s board meeting on the guidelines saw approximately 100 attendees and almost 60 community members signed up to speak, the\u00a0Herald-Tribune<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>, with speakers evenly divided between defenders and opponents of the policy. Critics objected not only to the policy itself, but that the district didn\u2019t entertain community input before releasing it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like we have to put a majority of students in an uncomfortable situation to accommodate the needs of a few,\u201d observed Cynthia Connelly, a mother of three who is concerned about her kids sharing a bathroom with a transgender student.<\/p>\n