Philadelphia may soon require all charter schools, youth organizations to accommodate trans kids

City Council is considering a proposal that would require Philadelphia institutions that serve children to accommodate transgender and gender-nonconforming youth, including allowing those individuals to wear clothing and use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

It would also require regular antidiscrimination training for staffers who work with young people and stipulates that, under antidiscrimination guidelines, personnel shouldn’t disclose a child’s transgender identity or gender-nonconformity, including to parents and other staff, unless authorized by the child.

While the School District of Philadelphia already has such a policy, this bill would expand those rules to charter schools, rec centers, sports leagues, and virtually every other “institution serving youth” in the city. Whether religious institutions would be exempt remains a question.

City Councilwoman Helen Gym introduced the bill, she said, after hearing from constituents who complained of mistreatment and discrimination at some youth-serving organizations in the city. The move comes after President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back Obama-era protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming students who attend public schools, and as the Supreme Court is gearing up to next month hear what could be a landmark LGBTQ discrimination case.

The legislation is supported by progressive groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Education Law Center, and the William Way LGBT Community Center. Itzela Wiley, a nonbinary 10-year-old student at The Philadelphia School, testified in support of the bill at a public hearing Wednesday before Council’s Committee on Law and Government.

“This change will make other children like me feel seen and welcome,” Wiley said, “even if they are not out to their family or at school.”

The bill passed the committee Wednesday and a vote before the full Council could take place as early as next week, but the earliest the provision would take effect is June.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia City Hall has one gender-neutral bathroom, and it’s hard to find. Under new legislation, that would change.

In the meantime, city lawyers and the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which would enforce the rule, are still working out if or how it might apply to religious institutions. This week, language was added to the bill stating that in enforcing the mandate, the commission should provide a religious exemption “as otherwise required by law.”

Officials with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which operates dozens of Catholic schools in the city, didn’t respond to requests for comment about the legislation. The system’s leader, Archbishop Charles Chaput, applauded the Trump administration for rescinding the Obama-era directive, which he had called “deeply disturbing” in a 2016 statement.

Gym said the bill would essentially add the School District of Philadelphia’s existing policy to the city’s antidiscrimination law, which is applied broadly and would cover the city’s 87 charter schools. Charters, which educate about 70,000 students in Philadelphia, don’t have an overarching governing body and operate more independently than public schools.

Some leaders in the charter-school community were reluctant to voice opposition to the legislation for fear of appearing transphobic, but have quietly wondered whether the city has the authority to mandate the schools implement policies with such specificity. David Hardy, director of the charter advocacy group Excellent Schools PA, has said Council shouldn’t dictate charter-school policy.

Others have pointed out that some charters already have progressive guidelines for accommodating trans and gender-nonconforming students. For example, Mastery Charter Schools, which operates 18 schools in Philadelphia, implemented a policy in 2016 stating students should be addressed by their name and pronouns and can use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, said spokesperson Rae Oglesby.

The policy also states “the intentional or persistent refusal to respect a student’s gender identity” may violate Title IX, a federal law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex in educational settings.

Federal courts have ruled that although the Obama-era directive is no longer in place, public schools can implement policies allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

» READ MORE: Supreme Court rejects appeal over Boyertown schools’ transgender restroom policy

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the Boyertown Area School District’s policy by a conservative group that said other students’ privacy rights were infringed upon when they shared a bathroom with transgender students. The decision to effectively affirm the Berks County school’s policy was hailed as a victory for trans students across the country.

Gym’s bill passed through committee Wednesday alongside three other bills. One would expand the city’s definition of gender identity, and another would require there be a gender-neutral bathroom on every floor of City Hall.

The final bill to pass through the committee would mandate the city publicly disclose all legal settlements on its website on a quarterly basis, whether those settlements were made as a result of harassment or discrimination complaints, wrongful convictions, or even lawsuits filed by people injured while using an unsafe sidewalk. That information is currently made available to individuals who file a request under the Right-to-Know law.

City Solicitor Marcel Pratt testified in favor of the legislation and said Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration believes it will further the city’s interest “in promoting fiscal transparency.”