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New Hampshire school bans urinals amid 'gender identity' bathroom kerfuffle; students stage walkout
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New Hampshire school bans urinals amid 'gender identity' bathroom kerfuffle; students stage walkout

New Hampshire high school students staged a walkout protesting an unusual compromise that avoided a requirement for students to use bathrooms corresponding with biological sex, WMUR reported Friday.

The compromise bars students from using urinals and communal spaces in locker rooms, with the eventual plan to include enclosing all bathroom and locker room stalls.

"As a female, I don't think it's safe to have males in our bathroom," Milford High School student Lena Silva told WMUR.

"This is creating a complex system of inequality for our LGBTQ+ students," student Autumn Diveley told the station. "Nobody asked for this," Diveley also said.

During Friday's protest, students carried signs that said "we want urinals" and "where is our vote?"

"We're trying to make it work for everyone," Milford School Board Chairman Judi Zaino said, according to the Nashua Telegraph.

Zaino was commenting on the "sometimes tearful" testimony at a well-attended Milford School Board meeting that preceded the student walkout.

"We're experimenting. We don't know if this will work," Zaino continued.

Monday night's school board meeting was attended by students, parents, legislators, teachers, and local residents, the Telegraph reported.

At issue was the still-in-place district policy permitting students to use the bathroom that "corresponds to their gender identity consistently asserted at school," ABC News reported.

A proposed policy, which did not go into effect, would have required students to use the bathroom that corresponded with his or her biological sex.

In a measure meant as a compromise, the school board voted Monday to eliminate urinals and enclose bathroom and locker room stalls, the Telegraph reported. The measure also limits the number of students in a bathroom to the number of stalls.

Participants speaking at the meeting expressed a variety of opinions on the proposed policies.

While some speakers decried the proposed measures as discriminatory and even a "suicide risk," others supported the measures as a means for protecting young women and girls' right to privacy and security while using the restroom or changing clothes.

School board member Nathaniel Wheeler proposed the original measure to require students to use bathrooms corresponding to biological sex, the Telegraph further reported. He reportedly voted against the compromise measure based on its estimated cost of $30,000.

School board member Noah Boudreault proposed the compromise involving removing urinals, enclosing stalls, and banning use of communal changing areas in locker rooms.

"“I want to be clear, it was a compromise to both sides of this issue,” Milford School Board member Noah Boudreault said, according to ABC's reporting.

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