20 States, D.C. Back Transgender Student in Lawsuit Discrimination based on gender identity causes '

20 States, D.C. Back Transgender Student in Lawsuit

Discrimination based on gender identity causes 'significant harm,' the state officials say.

By Megan Trimble, Digital News Editor March 1, 2019, at 2:00 p.m.

20 States, D.C. Back Transgender Student in Lawsuit

OFFICIALS IN 20 STATES and the District of Columbia are backing a transgender student who is taking on a Florida school over what he says is its discriminatory bathroom policy.

A coalition of 21 attorneys general led by New York Attorney General Letitia James filed an amicus brief late Thursday in support of 18-year-old Drew Adams. In the lawsuit – now before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta – Adams challenges the St. Johns County School Board's policy that prohibits transgender students from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. The policy, Adams' lawsuit contends, violates Title IX regulations and his constitutionally protected rights under the 14th Amendment.

The attorneys general argue in the brief that discrimination based on gender identity causes "significant harm to transgender people and the economy." In turn, ensuring the rights of transgender people, they argue, benefits society without a major financial burden or any cost to public safety or personal privacy.

"Educational institutions have a responsibility to protect and educate their students – neither of which involve denying students access to the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity," James said in a statement announcing the coalition's filing.

Adams came out as transgender during his freshman year of high school, underwent surgery and began treatment, according to The Florida Times-Union. He used the boys' restroom for about six weeks before the district told him he would have to use a gender-neutral bathroom or the girls' restroom, the paper reports. He and his mother sought a court injunction.

In July, U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan ruled that Adams could use the boys' restroom during his senior year at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, instead of having to use a gender-neutral bathroom, in line with the school board's policy. Corrigan wrote at the time that Adams didn't pose a threat to other students' safety or privacy and that the law required him to be treated "like any other boy," according to The Associated Press.

"Rather, Drew Adams is just like every other student at Nease High School, a teenager coming of age in a complicated, uncertain and changing world," Corrigan reportedly said in his decision.

The school board appealed the ruling.

The Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue, but the ongoing debate over transgender rights has continued at the state level. Just last month, a Virginia school board considered – but ultimately passed on – reversing a similar rule that barred a student from using a boys' restroom because he's transgender. That lawsuit is also ongoing.

The brief was supported by attorneys generals from New York, Washington, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont and the District of Columbia.