MARION COUNTY, Fla. — The Marion County School Board on Tuesday will consider a resolution that would require district students to use the bathroom matching the gender listed on their birth certificates.
The Marion County School Board voted 3 to 1 during a work session that lasted more than three hours on Thursday.
The controversy hit home when a student who was born a female said she identified as a male, so she should be able to use the boy’s bathroom.
If the school board stays its course, that student will have to use the girl’s bathroom or a gender neutral bathroom.
“Be what you were born as and that's it,” said parent Betty Howard.
Howard said she and her daughter both feel the same way as the majority of the school board, who agreed to pass the resolution.
The resolution says: "Transgender, gender nonconforming, gender fluid and/or gender independent are not a protected class."
Transgender students will "be offered comparable facilities" or gender neutral bathrooms.
But not everyone agrees with Howard.
“The school shouldn't be messing with him,” said parent Becky Hamilton.
Hamilton heard about the controversy, but didn't realize it was happening at her son's school.
“People don't choose who they want to be with, it just happens. If this person wanted to be a male, so be it,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton said the resolution takes it too far, although, her son doesn't see it the way she does.
Hamilton’s son said he doesn't know the student who's pushing for the right to use the boy's bathroom, but he said he would not feel comfortable with a student who is born a girl in the bathroom beside him.
“No, I'm not comfortable with that,” he said.
Others students said they don't have a problem with it.