Girl Uses Boys’ Bathroom. Bad Things Happen Next.

Elliot Cope, a 15-year-old girl, decided to use the boys’ bathroom at her high school, Timber Creek High School in Keller Independent School District in Texas. Cope self-identifies as “non binary” and “transgender.” A boy snapped a picture of Cope, with a skirt on, washing her hands in the boys’ room. The photo ended up on social media with two different captions: “walk in the boy restroom and…” and “ma’am are you lost?” Cope says she also received an outpouring of support for which she was grateful.

Still, cries of transphobia were issued, claims of bullying we made, and the head of the school’s Gay Straight Alliance Club called for inclusive gender neutral bathrooms.

Here are the social media posts which have been deemed as “bullying.”

“I’m non binary transgender, so I don’t identify as male or female; I’m kind of both but I’m just neither,” Cope told Fox 4 News.

The young student added that she was pleased with the outpouring of support but said the “attacks” she received on social media were “generally horrid.”

The administration of the high school says that they have worked with “gender neutral” students, providing them specific accommodation plans; Cope was one of those students. She was allowed to use the faculty bathrooms which are non-gender specific. The high schooler admits to this, but claims that janitors would scold her for using the bathrooms. Thus, Cope took it upon herself to use the boys’ restroom.

Keller ISD released a statement that said in part “when students request special accommodations related to gender identity, campus administrators work with each individual to develop a plan that best suits the student’s needs as well as those of the entire student body”.

Cope commended the school and said that she was not angry; Zoe Fleming, president of the school’s Gay Straight Alliance Club, on the other hand, was very upset. Fleming has called for the young man who snapped the picture of Cope to be punished and has demanded that inclusive gender neutral bathrooms be made available.