Law or no law, schools across US work to help transgender students fit in without a fuss

SAN FRANCISCO – Public schools across the U.S. are working to accommodate transgender students even if their school districts do not have anti-discrimination policies or laws that cover gender identity.

With children rejecting the gender of their births at younger ages and the transgender rights movement gaining momentum, schools in districts large and small, conservative and liberal, are allowing transitioning youth to use the restrooms and changing areas that match their expressed genders.

The move has prompted complaints from some parents in places like Tucson, Arizona, and Louisville, Kentucky.

But the trend is likely to accelerate with help from the federal government.

Last month, the U.S. Education Department alerted the nation's school districts that it would welcome civil rights complaints from transgender students under a 1972 law that prohibits gender discrimination at schools.