The legal fight over the federal government’s directive to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identity is playing out in a Texas court, but the debate is still raging much closer to home.

A regularly school board meeting in Fairfax last night grew tense as outbursts disrupted a hearing about proposed changes to regulations that would allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. The school board voted last year to include gender identity in its non-discrimination policy, but that did not immediately change rules for locker or bathroom usage.

Serving more than 185,000 students, Fairfax is the region’s largest schools system. Along with a number of advocates, a young transgender student spoke up about her experiences at the board meeting.

“I recently went on a field trip with my class and I wasn’t even allowed to use the female bathroom at the museum that we went to until all the girls in my class cleared the bathrooms,” said Victoria Johnson, who spoke with her mother at her side.

But it was a transgender coach’s remarks that sparked yelling from several members of the crowd.

“In addition to being an FCPS alumnus and coach, I am also a transgender man,” said Tyler Engleman. “When I was an FCPS student, I experienced firsthand the kind of harassment that children get from their peers.”

That prompted one parent to shout back, “You stay away from my kid.”

At least two men were escorted out by security. In speaking to FOX5 and NBC4, they complained that they hadn’t been given enough notice to sign up to speak.

The board didn’t vote on the bathroom issue (advocates for transgender rights told FOX5 that they believe the school system will wait for several lawsuits to be resolved before making the changes). They did vote to include “gender identity” in the school system’s Equal Opportunity policy, which board members said should have been done along with last year’s vote, WTOP reported.

The DOJ argues that preventing transgender people from using public bathrooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates is a violation of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, and the directive from the Departments of Justice and Education followed dueling lawsuits between the Feds and North Carolina over the state’s controversial HB2 legislation. The states involved in the lawsuit over that guidance are Texas, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arizona, Maine, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Utah, and Georgia.

Washington D.C. law states that people can use whatever bathroom corresponds with their gender identity.

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