Monroe County Community College’s ‘policy ignores biological reality,’ Rep. James DeSana says
Michigan state Rep. James DeSana announced last week that he will not attend a ceremony at Monroe County Community College due to the school’s “gender-inclusive restrooms.”
The school has several bathrooms for transgender individuals, according to MCCC’s “Statement on Restroom Access.”
“I declined an invitation to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony because I cannot condone the MCCC bathroom policy, and I don’t want to legitimize it,” DeSana (pictured) stated in a news release on Oct. 3.
The ceremony was a groundbreaking to expand the school’s Welch Health Education Building.
He stated that he agrees with people such as “J.K. Rowling, Megyn Kelly, Abigail Shrier, and Riley Gaines,” who have advocated for female-only sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms.
“MCCC’s policy ignores biological reality and the reasons why we keep those things separate. This is about protecting women and making sure they feel safe,” the Republican representative stated.
His motivation for pulling his support is “to send a message to the administration.”
“I’m protesting on behalf of students who are not able to stand up for themselves because they are in the middle of their degree program, and for employees who fear losing their job if they speak out,” DeSana stated.
In response, college President Kojo Quartey called DeSana’s decision “regrettable,” The Monroe News reported.
“Our policy on illegal discrimination and harassment prohibits discrimination based on gender identity/expression,” he wrote in a response statement, according to the Monroe News.
“MCCC’s policy on this issue is consistent with state and federal law – as well as major institutions of higher learning such as the University of Michigan and Michigan State University,” Quartey stated.
Quartey also defended the bathroom policy at a board meeting on Sept. 23 after protesters posted signs stating “MCCC allows MEN in girls bathrooms” near the school.
“It’s a law, and we have gender neutral restrooms just as they have on all the other campuses but the only place where there’s controversy with signs of this nature that you see across the street is here,” Quartey said, according to the MCCC Agora.
In an August op-ed titled “Restroom use is a human right, not a political issue,” Quartey wrote that MCCC “has been in the eye of the storm for…allowing individuals to use the restroom that conforms with their gender identity.”
“A person using the restroom that conforms to their gender identity is not a crime; however, deterring and/or preventing a person from doing so is against the law,” the school’s president wrote in The Monroe News.
Michigan law states that everyone must be allowed to access restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity rather than their biological sex.
MORE: Democrat-run school board overturns district’s birth-sex bathroom policy
IMAGE: WXYZ-TV Detroit/Youtube
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