The Women's Room

Staff -- School Library Journal, 10/1/1999

A high school media specialist insists on being herself

Debra Davis, a media specialist, routinely uses the women's faculty restrooms, as do other female staff members at Southwest High School. Nothing unusual there.

What sets the 30-year veteran of the Minneapolis Public Schools apart from her colleagues is that Davis is considered to be transgender, a term that describes individuals who dress as the opposite sex but have not necessarily undergone a sex change. At least one faculty member, Carla Cruzan, is uncomfortable sharing a restroom with Davis, who, until May 1998, reported to work as David Nielsen, a man.

Last October, Cruzan, a computer technology teacher, filed a complaint with the Minnesota Human Rights Department, attempting to bar Davis from the women's room. The American Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit law firm founded by conservative Pat Robertson, helped her prepare the complaint. But the Minnesota Human Rights Department has upheld Davis's right to use the women's restroom and has denied Cruzan's request for a hearing. Minnesota is the only state that legally protects individuals who identify themselves as transgender.