HRC panel postpones transgender guidelines

[Shana A]

HRC panel postpones transgender guidelines

Public hearing on rights for students is canceled
4/14/10
By Kevin Miller
BDN Staff

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/141166.html

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Human Rights Commission is backing away from controversial plans to issue new guidelines for how schools should accommodate transgender students.

Commission members decided Monday to cancel a public hearing on the issue and to shelve, at least temporarily, work on a guidance document called "Sexual Orientation in Schools and Colleges."

The proposed guidelines have sparked a heated debate over what steps, if any, schools should take to accommodate students who identify with the opposite gender rather than with their biological sex. The issue becomes particularly thorny when dealing with questions over transgender students' use of locker rooms and bathrooms and ability to play on athletics teams.