After resolution, schools without neutral bathrooms can be reported

Although the resolution that guides the creation of neutral bathrooms in schools does not have the force of law, the document opens the door for schools to be prosecuted for omission, if they do not follow the guidelines and are reported by parents or guardians. The text also has other social consequences, as it tries to create a cultural influence favorable to gender ideology. The resolution was drafted and approved by the CNLGBTQIA+, a national council dedicated to the rights of the LGBTQIA+ population, which is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Human Rights.

A brief reading allows you to find in the text that parents and legal guardians must report institutions that are preventing access to bathrooms and spaces according to the student’s gender identity to the protection bodies.

On the other hand, parents will have to explain in writing if they prohibit children under 18 from using their social name or expressing themselves according to their gender identity.

Cases in which these guidelines are not followed may be sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to file a lawsuit alleging a possible omission by educational institutions or even families.

In the document, there are a series of norms and laws that support the measure, including the final understanding of an action judged in the Federal Supreme Court (ADI 4275), which decided that the right to equality without discrimination covers gender identity or expression in records , and Decree 8,727 of 2016, which recognizes the gender identity of transvestites and transsexuals within the scope of public administration. The guidelines are also based on standards such as the Youth Statute and the National Education Guidelines and Bases Law.

“The resolution is based on principled norms and open concepts of the LDB and the STF’s ADI and, as it is open, there is a wide margin for interpretation. They rely on these open concepts to justify the implementation of a controversial public policy”, comments Igor Costa , master in Constitutional Law.

Apart from the installation of bathrooms for use regardless of gender, the resolution advises that other actions be implemented, such as “carrying out awareness campaigns on the right to gender self-determination of trans people” and “fixing posters informing that these are spaces safe and inclusive for all people.”

Cultural influence

Leaving the legal issues and moving on to the social influence generated by guidelines like this from CNLGBTQIA+, the specialist in Public Policies and Institutional Relations, Eduardo Galvão, explained that the resolution, although without the power of law, can trigger a change in how the issue should be seen in schools. He relates it to an expression of soft power, (soft power in literal translation), the power to indirectly influence culture and politics.

“Decisions like these make a difference, yes. This is precisely the exercise of soft power, this cultural influence”, explains Eduardo Galvão. According to him, a message is always conveyed through government guidelines. “For that group and that society that grows up in a certain pattern, this pattern can be reinforced or broken based on guidelines like these”, he highlights.