Students at Milford Middle School and Milford High School in New Hampshire walked out of school last Friday to protest the district’s ban on urinals. The ban was a compromise following a heated debate about bathroom use and gender identity. The school board decided to prohibit students from using urinals or shared spaces in locker rooms. The new policy limits the maximum occupancy for each bathroom and locker room to the number of stalls it contains, and it prevents students from using shared changing areas.
The debate stems from a proposal that came before the school board calling for no longer allowing students to use school bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity. Board member Noah Boudreault said he proposed new restrictions on bathroom use as a compromise. Although the district procedures allow students to access the bathroom that “corresponds to their gender identity consistently asserted at school,” the proposal would have blocked children from using facilities based on their gender identity.
The walkout lasted about 45 minutes. Some of the students held signs, including one that read “We want urinals.” Republicans in the state have been pushing anti-transgender legislation, with lawmakers considering a bill that says public entities can “differentiate between the male and female sexes in athletic competitions, criminal incarceration, or places of intimate privacy.” New Hampshire bans discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment, and public accommodations.