The U.S. Supreme Court today (Tuesday, May 28) declined to hear the case Doe v. Boyertown Area School District, a move that leaves standing a Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowing school districts to let transgender students use the restroom matching their gender.
The case started in 2016 when a group of non-transgender students sued Boyertown Area School District over the district’s policy that allowed trans students to use restrooms and locker rooms appropriate to their gender identity and also allowed all students the option of using private restroom facilities.
The group that filed the suit claimed that the U.S. Constitution requires that trans boys and girls be excluded from using the same facilities as non-trans students, and that the trans students’ mere presence in common restrooms and locker rooms constitutes sexual harassment.
In rejecting those claims the Third Circuit Court said in its ruling that forcing them to use separate facilities would “publicly brand all transgender students with a scarlet ‘T,’ and they should not have to endure that as the price of attending their public school.”
The American Civil Liberties Union represents the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, a coalition of LGBTQ youth leaders and youth organizations, that intervened in the case to defend the district’s right to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender. The law firm Cozen O’Connor is cooperating counsel.
Ria Tabacco Mar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, today called SCOTUS decision not to hear the case “an enormous victory for transgender students across the country.
“Boyertown’s schools chose to be inclusive and welcoming of transgender students in 2016, a decision the courts have affirmed again and again. This lawsuit sought to reverse that hard-won progress by excluding transgender students from school facilities that other students use. That would have increased the stigma and discrimination that transgender students already face,” she added. “Thankfully, today’s announcement allows schools to move forward with policies that support transgender students. But our work is far from over. We will continue to defend the transgender community from attacks in the courts, the legislatures, and the White House.”
Aidan DeStefano, a recent graduate of Boyertown High who is transgender, said, “By the time I graduated high school, I was using the boys’ bathroom and participating on the boys’ cross country team. I felt like I belonged and had the confidence I needed to continue with my education. I’m glad the Supreme Court is allowing schools like mine to continue supporting transgender students.”
