by Sophia Salganicoff

On May 14, President Obama released a federal directive stating that public schools must allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity or face massive federal budget cuts.

Obama’s announcement triggered firestorms of both praise and detraction within the United States, creating a national discussion about privacy rights, discrimination and executive power. To those at Springfield School District, however, President Obama’s announcement must have seemed like old news.

On April 18, almost a month before President Obama’s statement, Springfield School District’s school board passed a gender expansive policy. The policy gives gender nonconforming and transgender students at Springfield a right to privacy regarding their gender identity and the ability to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, among other things.

The policy, which was the first of its kind in Pennsylvania, was created with the goal of “creating a safe learning environment for all students and to ensure that every student has equal access to all school programs and activities.”

For Evan Coder, a junior at Springfield Township High School, this policy is personal. Coder is a young transgender man, who while being overwhelmed by the stresses of high school like everyone else, also had to grapple with his own gender identity.

“I didn't come out at school, to everyone, until tenth grade because I felt like, if I'd come out in ninth grade, I'd be questioned and mocked like I was immediately after having cut my hair short in eighth grade, and I didn't want to go through with that again, so I tried to not pay a lot of attention to my identity,” Coder said. “That didn't really help me at all because I was constantly reminded (by myself) of who I was.

“My experience as a transgender person in the school was, overall not bad, but there were ups and downs to it.”

After coming out, several acquaintances of Coder’s “straight up stopped talking to or acknowledging.” Coder said that people would also “come up to me and ask me questions, such as what bathroom I use” and that “people would talk about me behind my back, saying I was gross or weird or confused.” Coder also said that once while he was walking down the street, someone yelled a homophobic epithet out of a passing car window, though they drove away too quickly for Coder to see who it was.

It is not all bad news for Coder though. He said that his friends have remained by his side since he came out as transgender, and that all of his teachers have been “overall, accepting” of his gender identity.

Christine Settino, a language arts teacher at Springfield Township High School who has also known Coder since birth, played an integral in getting the gender expansive policy written and passed. She was a founding member of the Safe and Welcoming Schools Committee, which was formed “in order to research what other schools were doing around the many issues that face transgender students in school and to develop better practices.”

Settino was aware of the problems facing transgender students every day. After Coder came out as transgender to her in ninth grade, while working a staff member on the school’s literary magazine, things changed. Settino said that “his experiences made me think about what it was like for a transgender student to have to make uncomfortable decisions every day.” According to Coder, Settino had told him that “ coming out, according to her … had brought transgender rights closer to her heart, since she then knew someone very close to her was going through this.”

Springfield’s Policy is based on Title IX, a federal law stating that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

Springfield School District has interpreted Title IX to also extend to protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

To Coder, the policy “could set the precedent for acceptance,” but stipulates that “acceptance must come from individuals being respectful of others.” In fact, several other school districts have followed suit. Lower Merion School District passed a policy similar to Springfield’s on May 20th, and several other school districts have gender expansive policies in the works. But, as Coder said, these policies will only be effective if they are followed.

Coder seems optimistic about his future as a student of Springfield Township High School, with plans to continue working hard in school and, hopefully, apply to college next year. Coder is also optimistic about the future of transgender people in the United States, saying that he hopes for “significant publicity regarding transgender people and transgender rights” in the coming decade, which would likely allow for transgender people to become more accepted in mainstream society.