Changes are coming to schools in Hillsborough County, as the district works to follow a federal directive regarding accommodations for transgender students.

  • Departments of Justice, Education sent directive in May
  • Directive points to Title IX as encompassing gender identity
  • Hillsborough designating universal bathrooms, establishing equity training

Thanks to an early start this summer, future game designer Dakota Bozeman has an edge on most incoming freshman at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Much like when Dakota plays his favorite online game "Stardew Valley," where he is a married farmer with an adopted baby, Dakota already knows the "lay of the land" -- how to get around on campus.

However, one daily uncertainty has followed the Riverview High School graduate to college. Unlike the mechanics in the game, Dakota, a transgender teen, cannot simply create his own safe space in public.

"It's a toss-up every time I'm out in the open," Bozeman said. "I kind of stray away from public bathrooms because I'm never sure, like, 'should I just use the female bathroom, play it safe? Or can I use the men's bathroom and get away with it?'"

That uncertainty, at least for current transgender high school students, may soon be changing.

Federal Directive

This past May, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education sent a directive to school districts nationwide concerning this very issue.

The bottom line? Accommodations must be made for transgender students.

In response to that directive, the Hillsborough County Public School District is answering the call. The district provided equity training for principals and assistant principals, and they converted single-user bathrooms on school campuses from gender specific to universal.

"We've been working on this though for a number of years, as we have had this population in our schools," said Hillsborough County Public Schools spokesperson Tanya Arja.

According to Arja, one of the focuses of the equity training was on the appropriate way to refer to a transgender student with pronouns.

For example, some students in transition would like people to refer to them by the pronouns of the gender they identify with. Others prefer a more general and non-gender specific “they” and “them.”

A positive turn

For at least one Hillsborough schools faculty member, the district's efforts mark a very encouraging step forward.

"I'm very excited by the positive turn the district is taking with this," said Riverview High School's Lora Jane Riedas.

Riedas is the faculty advisor for the Riverview High School Gay Straight Alliance Club. During his time at Riverview, Dakota acted as Student Co-Coordinator for the club.

The group hosts events to bring awareness to victims of violence in the LGBT community with a “Day of Silence.” Students pledge not to speak outside of educationally necessary classroom participation, and they march with handmade banners through the school’s breezeway.

RELATED: Universal bathrooms will open in Hillsborough schools for transgender students

The group also celebrates the role of "allies" -- people who openly support LGBT community members.

According to Riedas, a banner hangs in her classroom that spells out the word “ALLY” along with a heart--in Post-It notes.

“They were just supposed to write one time that they realized that someone was an ally for them,” explained Riedas. “And there’s some pretty cool ones on here, even something as simple as ‘Love.’”

For Riedas, it is hard to pick a favorite note.

“From a teacher perspective, one that said ‘My teachers call out discrimination in the classroom,’" said Riedas. "That just reassures me that my colleagues are in the same fight as I am.”

Here's what some of the other notes read:

  • “My best friend once fought someone who was harassing me for being gay.”
  • “She said I was here for a reason.”
  • “I help those who feel they don’t belong.”

This final note is sort of a “Pay it forward” realization, as Riedas explained.

“It’s great for the kids to realize that at first there are people who are supporting them, and then in turn, they can be that to someone else," she said.

Creating a "safe space"

Riedas also serves on the local board of GLSEN  (pronounced "glisten"), the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network. GLSEN’s most recent National School Climate Survey found that 30% of LGBTQ students surveyed missed at least one day of school in the past month because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

To help address that issue, Riedas offers fellow teachers GLSEN "Safe Space" stickers for their classrooms.

"It's sending a silent signal to their students that that's a classroom where they can feel safe and they don't have to worry about getting called names," said Riedas.

And that “safe space” can now include the bathroom.

The new bathrooms at Riverview and around the district's schools are just an option for transgender students. They don’t have to use these bathrooms, but they are available.

They are also available to any student who doesn't feel comfortable in a multi-use bathroom.

"We know that in order for our students to graduate on time and to go on to the next step in their life they have to come to school so we want to make sure when they come to school they feel that there are advocates on campus for them and they feel safe," said Arja.

Dakota Bozeman explains the online game Stardew Valley to Bay News 9's Virginia Johnson. Bozeman will be studying Digital Media at the University of Central Florida in the Fall. (Virginia Johnson, staff)

Bozeman says this change is a good one.

“Things like sensitivity training and universal bathrooms are really important for transgender people to feel safe in public spaces, as well as to feel validated like they have a place in society."

That validation is something Riedas says the school district already does for her.

"I think just being an out gay woman and working at the same school with my wife is the district saying that I am still valued as an educator and a member of the community," she said. "It's really important just to make people feel like they are not on the outside of everything."

And now the school district can do the same thing in the future for students like Dakota. It would make his make-believe world in "Stardew Valley" a little closer to his real one.

In the game, Dakota explains, "I can be whatever gender I want, look however I want, have whatever hairstyle."

In other words, free.

To read the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education's directive, see the document below.