News Release
For Immediate Release: February 28, 2017
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078
Federal Judge Moves to Create Unsafe Environment at Pine Richland High School
(Harrisburg) — The school board of Pine Richland School District made a commonsense decision last September when they voted to require students to use either the restrooms that corresponds with their biological sex or use single-occupancy ‘unisex’ restrooms. Yesterday’s decision by a federal judge declaring the civil rights of three students who identify as transgender were violated is wrong and creates the potential risk of biological boys to similarly begin identifying as “transgender girls” in order to gain access to the private facilities of girls. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide child advocacy group, opposes this wrong-headed decision.
“A baby is born either a boy or a girl, sex is not assigned at birth, as proponents of transgenderism claim. These three Pine Richland students who brought the lawsuit are confused about their sexuality – but that does not mean they should impose their confusion on the entire student body. The school board made the right decision in September and are to be commended for that decision. It is being very close-minded not to think there won’t be some boys who now see an opportunity for easy access to the girls’ bathrooms, shower and locker rooms,” commented Diane Gramley, President of the AFA of PA.
The three students are biologically who they were born – not who they think they are. No matter what hormones they may take or surgeries they may undergo in the future, that will never change. For the judge to rely upon the Fourteenth Amendment for his decision is ridiculous! The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 in the wake of the Civil War to ensure states would no longer create legal roadblocks for their citizens solely because of their race. There is nothing in the text or history of the amendment to support the idea that it could be read to require schools to ignore the realities of the differences between biological boys and girls nor to force schools to open private facilities to the opposite sex.
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