Long Beach puts gender-neutral locker room plan on hold

Following a backlash from conservative community members and media, the Long Beach Unified Board of Education voted to postpone a plan to build a gender-neutral locker room at a high school aquatics center, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The plan, two years in the making, would have included private shower and changing stalls in the locker room at Wilson High School, accommodating all students regardless of their gender identity. But after conservative news outlets publicized the plan last fall, a small group of community members protested the idea and the board voted on Feb. 2 to gather more public input before making a final decision, the newspaper reported.

Students overwhelmingly support the idea, said Tiffany Brown, deputy superintendent for Long Beach Unified.

The controversy has echoed in other districts in California, even though the state in 2013 passed a law allowing transgender students to use bathrooms or locker rooms of their choice.