The question of whether tampons belong in boys’ bathrooms goes before the Oregon State Board of Education on Monday, when the seven-person body will weigh public testimony sparked by a Southern Oregon mom’s petition to scale back access to free menstrual products in public schools.
Written public comment on Oregon’s Menstrual Dignity Act, which went into full effect at the beginning of this school year, skewed nearly four to one in favor of removing the law’s requirement that public schools stock menstrual products in all bathrooms, including those designated for boys as young as kindergarten. Oregon’s law goes further than similar ones in Washington and California.
On Monday, the board will vote whether to deny the petition from Eagle Point School District board member Cherylene Stritenberg or further review it, said Oregon Department of Education spokesperson Marc Siegel.
Stritenberg, acting as an individual, introduced her petition to amend House Bill 3294 on June 23, prompting a public-comment period that drew close to 240 letters and emails, including dozens of auto-generated ones that opponents of the bill could easily click and send. About 185 of the comments argued in favor of Stritenberg’s petition, with many of those saying the current rule wastes money by putting menstrual products in boys’ bathrooms, a requirement that legislators put in place to make sure transgender boys assigned female at birth and non-binary students had free access to period products regardless of what facility they used.
If approved, the petition would require K-12 schools to provide free tampons and pads “in at least two bathrooms.”
“My petition doesn’t prevent a district from putting as many tampons in as many bathrooms as they see fit for their district; it just wouldn’t require all districts to do so,” Stritenberg said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Schools across the state prepared over the summer to comply with H.B. 3294 by buying supplies and dispensers, for which Oregon will reimburse districts. The 2021 law is annually expected to cost about $2.8 million, money that will come from the State School Fund.
Those in favor of keeping the bill as is see it as an opportunity to destigmatize menstruation and alleviate stress and worry for trans and nonbinary students. If boys vandalize bathrooms with the products, that shouldn’t curtail access, some people in favor of the rule wrote. Instead, boys’ behavior should change, they argued.
State Rep. Rick Ruiz, D-Gresham, who sponsored the bill, urged the board to keep the rule intact, writing with Rep. Courtney Neron, D-Wilsonville, that free and broad access will help more students feel comfortable at school.
“From across the state, we heard horror stories of menstruators who experienced shame, stigma, or harassment over a normal bodily function,” they wrote. “As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must reimagine our support for students, and once again be a leader in removing barriers to learning.”
– Austin De Dios
©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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With so many gay teachers taking over our schools, the tampons in the boys rooms are obviously need to stop the rectal bleeding. This is no joke, just the obvious. Now a normal sane person would not conceive of this corruption of human morals, but to ignore it is to leave you children unarmed to the inevitibale. When in doubt take them out.
“From across the state, we heard horror stories of menstruators who experienced shame, stigma, or harassment over a normal bodily function,” they wrote. “As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must reimagine our support for students, and once again be a leader in removing barriers to learning.”
#1. If the girls would just use the restrooms designated for girls only, they would not experienced shame, stigma, or harassment from boys.
#2. How is putting Tampons in boys restrooms removing barriers to learning??
#3. I always thought that by the time boys and girls entered school, they had already learned how to use the restroom.
AND since by every metric i’ve seen (and heard by those who’ve had to CLEAN restrooms), ITS WOMENS restrooms that are 99% of the time, more likely to be stinky and dirty, ALL BECAUSE Of those feminine hygiene products all over the place, WHY DIRTY UP MENS ROOMS with them!?
Truly, we now live in a world where insanity is the “new normal”.
Actually leave in the boys room, just don’t know when there may be another shooting in a school and you need something to plug up the holes to save lives. I know, sick thought, I apologize but no sicker than what these far left are doing to our world.
Did anyone here ever believe they’d see anything like this in their lifetime ?
#TamponJoe
Who ever imagined Joke Frauden would be Resident? Somehow, somewhere we’ve been transferred into an alternate universe where inane insanity & insane inanity rule the roost.
STAY WELL, SAFE, FREE & BRAVE!
GBK
This is left-wing government at its best. Trying to figure out whether or not there should be tampons in a boy’s bathroom. This would be a terrible waste of brain power if these reality challenged officials actually had a brain. What a grotesque waste of taxpayer money, to have people sitting around trying to decide if boys might need feminine hygiene products. Meanwhile our kids continue to fall farther behind in basic education. Come on America let’s show these left-wing idiots the door.
At the age of 84, I cannot believe that this country has become so ****** UP! Never saw so many screwed up people in my life! This county is in serious trouble and if your not aware of it, your part of the problem!
All these queer “boys” using tampons should switch over to corn cobs. The queers would enjoy it more.
Why would boys need Tampons?