Federal Court Rules Equal Access to Bathrooms for Transgender Students
“A public school may not punish its students for gender nonconformity.”
This Friday, Federal Court ruled that transgender students must be allowed equal access to bathrooms in public schools. The judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit stated that “a public school may not punish its students for gender nonconformity” and ruled that each student must be allowed access to bathrooms that match their individual gender identity.
The new ruling comes after Drew Adams went to court following discrimination in school. After he began living as a boy in 2015, he used the boys’ restrooms in his High School like all other boys, but following an anonymous report, he was instructed to only use gender-neutral restrooms.
“A public school may not punish its students for gender nonconformity. Neither may a public school harm transgender students by establishing arbitrary, separate rules for their restroom use. The evidence at trial confirms that Mr. Adams suffered both these indignities. The record developed in the District Court shows that the School Board failed to honor Mr. Adams’s rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX,” wrote the judges appointed to the case.
Drew Adams’ case around transgender student’s equal access to restrooms is the first in the United States involving a trial. Read more about the case and the court ruling over at Lambda Legal.
