The Brevard County School Board will hold a public hearing in July on protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and staff.
- Brevard School Board has been debating the issue for months
- Protections would be for LGBT students and staff
The school board voted in favor to hold a public hearing regarding the policy by a narrow count of 3 to 2.
The current discrimination policy says no one, regardless of race or color, will be excluded.
If a new policy is selected, it will include transgender, sexual orientation and gender identity in it's guidelines. School board officials reiterated that this change wouldn't alter restroom guidelines.
“Nowhere in the policy does it talk about bathrooms," said School Boardmember Andy Zeigler. "We don’t have any intention of changing anything going on in our schools, we don’t have any problems on this topic. No one is asking us to change anything relevant to bathrooms.”
Supporters of the protections said it will help stop bullying in the classroom and on campuses.
"I see a gay child, a lesbian child, a bisexual child, a transgender child looking at that policy and feeling safer, feeling included in protections, which is huge," said Lexi Wright, president of the LGBT group Space Coast Pride.
Critics of the effort, including Maitland-based Liberty Counsel, said the change would open the door to more problems in schools.
"The School Board should not approve language that includes transgender issues, because what that does is it opens up every restroom, locker room and shower facility to every boy that wants to go into the girls’ facilities," said Mat Staver, chairman and founder of Liberty Counsel.