Last May, the departments of Education and Justice issued joint guidance directing schools to let transgender students use facilities that correspond with their gender identity. But it didn’t last long because in February, the Trump administration withdrew Obama-era protections for transgender students in public schools that let them use bathrooms and facilities corresponding with their gender identity. Despite that change, number of court’s decisions in favor of transgender persons is increasing because all people, regardless of gender identity, deserve full protection of the law.
Ash Whitaker is certainly one of them. He is a trans student at the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin and he wasn’t allowed to use boy’s bathroom, a bathroom that matches his gender identity. According to the court, the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin violated the rights of a trans student.
In the decision, a three-judge panel from the Seventh Circuit Court concluded that the school district “has failed to provide any evidence of how the preliminary injunction will harm it, or any of its students or parents” — a rebuke of the prevalent myth that letting trans people use the bathroom for their gender identity will hurt others. Transgender people generally prefer using the bathroom or locker room that matches their gender identity, not the one that corresponds with the gender they were assigned at birth. The court ruling could be used to protect the rights of all transgender people under the Constitution and current federal law.
The court’s ruling stated:
[Whitaker] asserted that the denial of access to the boys’ bathroom was causing him harm, as his attempts to avoid using the bathroom exacerbated his vasovagal syncope, a condition that renders Ash susceptible to fainting and/or seizures if dehydrated. He also contended that the denial caused him educational and emotional harm, including suicidal ideations.
The court argued that the Kenosha Unified School District’s actions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The school district claimed that it treats all boys and girls equally — meaning it forces them all to use certain bathrooms based on the sex they were assigned at birth instead of their gender identity.
Photo Credits: The Hill / Getty Images
