Obama Administration To Order Every School District To Have Gender-Neutral Bathrooms Available

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —  According to the New York Times, the Obama administration on Friday is expected to announce an executive order that every school district in the United States must order a gender-neutral bathroom in public schools.

On Thursday evening, KCAL9's Serene Branson was at the Menifee Union School District and spoke to people on both sides of the issue.

The hot button issue has hit a boiling point.

"I just think that this is nuts and President Obama is just pushing and pushing and pushing us further and further away from any type values at all," says Mary Rasar of Menifee.

She said she recently stopped shopping at Target over the issue after the store said that patrons get to use the bathroom they identify with, no questions asked.

"You got to draw the line somewhere, and if you want to give them individual bathrooms, that is completely fine, I have no problem with that, but to say they have to share the same bathroom especially when you're younger," Rasar said.

Branson spoke to other shoppers and students at the Countryside Marketplace for their reaction.

"I think that that's a good think for the schools just to start doing, to have separate bathroom for the children that, you know, don'r really know who they identify with," said Crystal Edivan.

"I think that it's fine that if someone wants to identify with whatever sex they are, they should be able to go into that bathroom," Kelly Purcell said.

"I would be concerned if my son was in the bathroom and there was a female in there and if there was an issue, or maybe something happened, or maybe something didn't happen," said Tarra Fox.

In and around West Hollywood, the ruling was met a lot more favorably. To most, it wasn't a big deal.

"It's really not any of my business and to each their own," said one man.

"I think the whole thing is ludicrous," said another man, "people should use the bathroom they're comfortable with. And if the concern is safety, then have a bathroom monitor."

The directive from the Obama administration comes just weeks after a controversy at Santee High School near downtown LA.

About 700 students there lobbied for a gender-neutral bathroom and school administrators gave the students what they wanted. A day after the bathroom was instituted, a scuffle broke out between supporters and and handful of protesters.

Attached to the letter, the Obama administration will include a 25-page document describing "emerging practices" in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

While the ruling isn't a law, per se, schools that don't abide could face lawsuits and lose federal funding.