A school district just outside Philadelphia has reversed a recently enacted policy barring trans students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
On Monday, the Perkiomen Valley School Board in Montgomery County voted 6-to-3 to end the district’s controversial Policy 720.
According to the policy — which was enacted in October 2023 by a then-Republican-controlled board — students, staff and visitors at any of the district’s buildings were only allowed to use bathrooms designated for their “biological sex.”
Late on Monday, the new Democratic majority board voted to rescind the policy, which opponents said was unfair to trans students.
“I’m speaking on behalf of my child — my son — and every other child that this current 720 policy has discriminated against, destroyed their education [and] well-being,” one mother told board members during the meeting. “They’ve been harmed mentally and physically by the decision made by this board.”
Another mother fought tears while saying the policy made her child withdraw from school activities because the student no longer felt safe at school.
Parents who spoke out in defense of the policy argued that rescinding it would endanger young girls.
One father told the board he would now have to explain to his daughters there would be “guys in the bathroom with them,” accusing the board of forcing their “wacko ideology … on all of us.”
“Evil is here,” said a mother after the vote. “Satan has come for our children right in front of us.”
The updated policy will take effect on Wednesday, though further revisions are expected, NBC Philadelphia reported.
Located approximately 35 miles northeast of Philadelphia, the Perkiomen Valley School District serves 5,000 students in Collegeville, Trappe, Schwenksville, Lower Frederick, Perkiomen and Skippack.
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