In education, there are laws that have been put in place to protect students from discrimination and segregation.  Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), prohibits discrimination in educational programs based on sex (Human Rights Campaign, n.d.).  To solve the transgender issues, states like North Carolina have created their own laws.  House Bill 2 (HB2), passed in 2016, stated individuals must use the restrooms of their biological gender and forbids future legislation protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals (Corbat, 2017).  This law goes against Title IX and discriminates against LGBT.

To attempt to clarify the rights of transgender students, the United States Department of Education, along with the United States Department of Justice, published a guide to help schools make sure the civil rights of transgender students are met.  This guide states the civil rights of LGBT students will be protected and guarantees them access to use the restroom of their identity (Human Rights Campaign, n.d.).  To defend their bathroom law, North Carolina has earmarked over half a million dollars in their emergency fund to defend HB 2 for future lawsuits (Corbat, 2017).  

Limited bathroom rights of transgender students may not seem like it would have a major impact on students, but students who use the bathroom that is not associated with their identity keeps them from feeling safe and included. Students who do not feel safe or included will not perform as well as those who do feel safe.  Parents and community are concerned about the safety of non-transgender students using the same restroom, but studies have shown the students who receive harassment and bullying are the transgender students (Corbat, 2017).  The civil rights of LGBT students has recently come to the forefront of education and will continue to change and transform.