EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first installment in a series concerning the ongoing debate about transgender rights, particularly the current issue of restroom use. The Sentinel-Record met with two transgender students in the community about their backgrounds and how the public debate affects them.
Transgender Americans throughout the country, including two local high school students, are adding their voices to a national discussion about transgender rights as political battles on the subject intensity at the local, state and federal levels of government.
President Barack Obama and his administration led a directive two weeks ago for public schools to allow transgender students to use the restrooms matching their gender identities. The directive was backed by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice. Schools received a joint letter the same day from the education and justice departments with guidelines to ensure transgender students "enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment."
The directive is not law and cannot be enforced as law, but federal officials have bolstered the guidance with support of Title IX, the federal anti-discrimination law in education. Their interpretation of Title IX is schools receiving federal funds may not discriminate based on a student's sex, including the gender identities of transgender students.
Lucas Segal, a rising senior at Lakeside High School, felt it was brave for Obama to address the subject in the manner he did. He said the issue is reaching a climax in the public forum.
"Now it's his turn to finally step in and say, 'No more of this dispute,'" Segal said. "He can't make it a law right now, obviously, but that's maybe what we are looking toward. I think what he did is awesome. It's a step toward what needs to happen. I am really excited, hoping maybe that more is going to come out of what he has done so this is just a steppingstone. Maybe more will come out of it. I think it is very honorable and admirable of him to finally step in and say something after so long of nothing being said about it."
Segal will travel to San Diego, Calif., this summer for the national Family, Career and Community Leaders of America conference. He qualified for nationals through his advocacy for the rights of transgender people to use the restrooms matching their gender identities.
His transition from female to male began more than two years ago when he was a freshman. Segal presented his FCCLA work to Lakeside administration, students and teachers throughout the school year.
Another rising senior and honor roll student, who wished to remain anonymous, in another local school said she has been more concerned with the negative backlash to Obama's directive. She was disappointed to hear and read the opinions of others who believe the number of transgender students is too few to matter.
"We are a minority, but that does not mean we just don't exist," she said. "There is a lot of debate on whether we are even a thing or not. It's frustrating because no one really wants to listen to us."
Estimates placed the number of transgender people in America at about 700,000 people, or 0.2-0.3 percent of the country's population. Groups have reported the subpopulation could be even more significant due to underreporting by transgender citizens who prefer to keep their information private.
An average transgender subpopulation for Garland County, with an overall population of about 100,000, would indicate at least 200-300 transgender individuals in the community. Transgender students are enrolled in multiple local public schools.
Connie Dean, Segal's mother, said her family became much more aware of the amount of transgender people in the community after he began his transition.
"When he came out, I honestly thought, 'I've got the only (trans) kid in Arkansas,'" Dean said. "It just wasn't talked about and it just wasn't something people were aware of. I was panicked."
The family has since connected with others throughout the state and the country through the Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition and the Human Rights Campaign. Students have reached out to Segal following the release of information about his advocacy project for FCCLA.
Their pediatrician recently reached out to Dean for information and resources to treat another transgender patient. Segal is friends with a graduate from another local school who is currently in the military, but the branch will not allow him to move forward with the transition while enlisted.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-District 4, were among leading figures from the state to voice opposition to Obama's directive. Segal felt it was disrespectful for Hutchinson to advise schools to ignore the president's guidance.
"He doesn't see where there are issues," Segal said. "He does not understand. Even though it may not get to him, necessarily, there are issues in the state of Arkansas and all over the United States where there are students going to school with it and aren't feeling comfortable."
"If the governor sat down and met with Lucas and could understand where he was coming from, it may not change his mind, but I think it would give him a different perspective," Dean said.
At least a dozen states intend to sue to block Obama's policy. Texas plans to lead the lawsuit with governors from Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Utah. Mississippi has vowed to join as well.
Recent reports presumed state senators would soon introduce a minor bill with an amendment to charge someone as a sex offender if they go into a restroom for a gender that does not match their birth certificate. Hutchinson has said he opposes adding the topic to the special session, but expects it to arise again when legislators meet in regular session next year.
The other local student hopes for others to understand why the subject matters. She has already experienced multiple negative encounters when forced to use a male restroom. She made a point to address one male student in a restroom when she felt he was about to approach her.
"I had to explain to him, 'I don't like being here any more than you do, but it's a legal obligation,'" she said.
"Every mother just wants her child to be happy," her mother said. "You worry that society is not going to accept what they deem as happiness. I don't want her to be hurt because people do not understand.
"I still don't really understand, but I am certainly sympathetic and compassionate toward people who feel different in their own skin. There is a lot of emotional things you go through when you are a teenager anyway and then this added stress of feeling different from everybody else. I think she is quite brave for not hiding who she is and for coming out."
Local on 05/29/2016