American Medical Association: Exclusionary bathroom policies harm transgender students’ health
/American Medical Association: Exclusionary bathroom policies harm transgender students’ health
It’s heartening to see the American Medical Association - the premier medical association of the US - recognize the overwhelming data in support of affirming trans youth. We want to thank them for adopting such an affirming stance, and for speaking up forcefully at a national level.
This position statement could also be useful to parents, educators, and other allies when advocating for trans youth in schools.
Published by: American Medical Association. December 31, 3019. Author: Tanya Albert Henry.
“A federal appeals court should uphold a lower-court ruling that says a Virginia school board violated a transgender student’s rights when it passed a policy requiring them to use “alternative private” restroom facilities instead of communal restrooms.”
“The policy is harmful to transgender students’ mental and physical health, the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies tells the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an amicus brief filed with 16 other medical, public health and mental health organizations in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board. AMA policy supports transgender individuals’ rights to access public restrooms according to their gender identities.”
“The brief informs the court about the medical community’s consensus on what it means to be transgender, the protocols for treating gender dysphoria and how transgender adolescents’ health is harmed when they cannot use restrooms that match their gender identity. Estimates suggest that about 0.6% of the adult population is transgender. That’s about 1.4 million Americans…”
“ ‘Access to single-sex facilities that correspond to one’s gender identity is a critical aspect of social transition and, thus, successful treatment of gender dysphoria,’ the brief tells the court. ‘By contrast, excluding transgender individuals from facilities consistent with their gender identity undermines their treatment; exposes them to stigma and discriminations, harms their physical health by causing them to avoid restroom use; and impairs their social and emotional development…’ “