An LGBTQ families advisory body for the San Francisco Unified School District has made access to gender-neutral bathrooms at all school sites its first priority issue to address this year. It will be pressing school officials on their plan to meet a state requirement that all of its campuses have at least one easily accessible gender-neutral bathroom by July 1, 2026.
Under a state law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2023, all K-12 public schools, as well as charter schools and county education offices, are required to designate a bathroom as being open to all genders and ensure it is unlocked and accessible to all students during school hours and after-school functions for students.
The San Francisco school district has more than 100 school sites. But not all of its school grounds have an easily-accessible all-gender bathroom for students, according to the 2024 Safe and Supportive Schools Report Card released by statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization Equality California.
"We chose this as the first of our priorities because it was overwhelmingly clear this was one of the top issues students have mentioned," said Esther Lee, a lesbian single mom elected this month as chair of the Queer and Transgender Parent Advisory Council, or QTPAC for short.
Speaking with the Bay Area Reporter Monday, Lee said members of the school district's queer and transgender middle and high school students advisory group had sent cards to their parental group counterparts listing what issues were important for them, and gender-neutral bathroom access was often mentioned. She plans to ask school district staff to report back to the QTPAC members at their February meeting with more information on the bathroom issue.
The B.A.R. also inquired with school district officials about how many of its school sites currently have a gender-neutral bathroom and what the administration's plans are for meeting the deadline next summer as imposed on school districts by Senate Bill 760 authored by former state senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton).
In an emailed response to the B.A.R. Monday, spokespeople for the district did not give an exact tally for how many school sites currently meet the requirements of SB 760. They said school staff were still working to provide precise answers to the paper's questions.
"The Facilities Department is working to ensure that there are all-gender restrooms at all school sites and is on track to fulfill the state requirements as laid out in Senate Bill No. 760 by July 1, 2026," stated a district spokesperson. "SFUSD recognizes that some of the current all-gender restrooms are in staff-only areas and is working with school sites to ensure that students have access when needed."
Students who wish to raise concerns or give feedback about the condition of all-gender SFUSD restrooms can fill out a feedback form that is sent to the district's Student and Family Services Division. In December 2019, the division updated its design standards to include all-gender restrooms in all future buildings, per the district. It called for "a minimum of one all-gender multi-stall toilet room," according to SFUSD.
Since then, the Facilities Division completed a signage project to modify all single-stall restrooms on K-12 campuses and administrative buildings to include appropriate "all gender" restroom signage, the district told the B.A.R. this week.
"After the project at least one restroom at every site included the updated signage," stated the district. "All single-stall restrooms — even those used as staff restrooms — were identified as all-gender restrooms."
Lee, currently a legislative aide to gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, now president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, told the B.A.R. that she expects SFUSD will have an easily accessible gender-neutral bathroom for students at all school sites before next summer, especially now that the newly formed QTPAC has prioritized the issue.
"I am confident they are going to meet the state's stated deadline because this advisory council is meeting now and these parents are focused," said Lee, 52, the co-parent of a 16-year-old nonbinary high school student enrolled in the district.
Lee and her ex-wife are co-parents to two children, with their oldest son now a 19-year-old college dance student in Southern California with a boyfriend. A well-known LGBTQ political organizer — Lee formerly chaired the California Alliance for Pride and Equality that later became EQCA and San Francisco's Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club — she had never been involved with a school committee until applying last year for one of the 11 seats on the QTPAC.
"When I signed up for this, I honestly assumed we would have a different presidency and it would be an exciting time to be involved. It is still an exciting time; we are the resistance now," said Lee, who lives near Mission Bay, of having to protest against the anti-LGBTQ policies and other discriminatory measures being implemented by the Trump administration. "And we have Republicans and the president who have this unhealthy obsession with transgender youth and their genitals."
Due to the current political climate, several of her fellow parents on the advisory group are reluctant to be publicly identified as members on it and fear having their children who are LGBTQ be outed, noted Lee. It is why she and her ex asked the B.A.R. not to publish the names of their own children.
"They need help, these Republicans," said Lee. "But instead of getting help, they are manifesting this obsession by targeting our kids and bullying our kids. I don't know any parent, if their kids were being bullied, who wouldn't be standing up and fighting for them."
The QTPAC plans to meet at 5:30 p.m. the third Thursday of each month through May 15. It has been meeting since last November in Room 18 of the Civic Center Secondary School. Entrance into the building, located at 727 Golden Gate Avenue, is located via the back side of the parking lot on McAllister Street.
The website for the San Francisco school district's QTPAC can be found here.
Out SF supes chair key panels
Speaking of Mandelman, he released his committee assignments last week for his fellow board members, as is his prerogative as board president. Part of the board's moderate majority, Mandelman named a mix of progressive and moderate supervisors to chair the various panels.
As was expected when she came out in support of Mandelman to be the first gay board president in two decades, progressive District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan is remaining chair of the powerful budget committees. She is tasked with working with Mayor Daniel Lurie on balancing the city's budget amid a projected $876 million deficit over the next two fiscal years.
Serving with Chan on the Budget & Finance Committee are gay moderate Supervisors Matt Dorsey of District 6 and Joel Engardio of District 4. (Engardio, who is trying to beat back a recall attempt of him this year, was reappointed Tuesday by his board colleagues as their representative on the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Board of Directors through January 31, 2027.)
Joining them on the expanded Budget & Appropriations Committee will be Mandelman and progressive District 11 Supervisor Shamann Walton. Continuing to chair the Rules Committee, which reviews mayoral and supervisorial appointees to city oversight bodies, will be Walton, joined by moderate District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill and Mandelman.
Dorsey is now chair of the high-profile Public Safety & Neighborhood Services Committee at a time when he and Lurie are pushing the police and district attorney to take a more aggressive approach to crime, outdoor drug dealing and usage, and homeless encampments. Serving with him are moderate Supervisors Bilal Mahmood of District 5 and Danny Sauter of District 3.
Queer progressive District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder is chairing the Government Audit & Oversight Committee. But forming a moderate bloc on it are Sauter and Sherrill.
Chairing the Land Use & Transportation Committee is District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, seen as a swing vote on the board. Progressive District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen and Mahmood are also members of the closely watched committee.
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook's online companion. This week's column reports on a gay Redwood City councilmember's concerns about new smoking fines set to take effect.
Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko and on Bluesky @ https://bsky.app/profile/politicalnotes.bsky.social.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected]
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