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A transgender former student sued a Missouri school district for forcing her to use the boys' bathrooms or the single-stall gender-neutral bathroom.
The ACLU of Missouri sued Platte County R-3 School District on behalf of the former student, a 16-year-old transgender female identified in the lawsuit only as R.F.
The lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court of Platte County on Monday, argued that the school district violated her rights by requiring her to use the bathroom that aligned with her sex assigned at birth or the school's single-stall gender-neutral bathroom.
It comes at a time when transgender rights have become a culture war battleground in the United States, with a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures this year.
According to the lawsuit, R.F. identified as female at a very young age and has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. She began her medical transition to female in early 2019 and had identified as a transgender female before she began her freshman year at Platte County High School in September 2021.
At the beginning of the year, she was informed by the school's assistant principal that students use either the restroom of their sex assigned at birth or the gender-neutral restroom, the lawsuit said. The gender-neutral restroom was not near R.F.'s classes and it frequently had a long line because it was used by all students, the lawsuit added.
When she used one of several girls' restrooms at school, the school responded with escalating punishments, according to the lawsuit.
These ranged from verbal warnings to an out-of-school suspension. She also received detention on two occasions for using the girls' restroom, the lawsuit said.
R.F. said a male classmate harassed her and threatened her with rape when she used the boys' bathroom after returning to school following a week-long suspension.
The ban on using the girls' restroom and the harassment caused R.F. to experience anxiety and depression, the lawsuit continued.
She missed three weeks of school and then completed the rest of her freshman year virtually. She returned to school in person at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, when the requirement that students use restrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth was still in place. R.F.'s family moved out of the school district in January of this year.
The lawsuit is asking the court to find the school district's practices and policies unconstitutional and award compensatory and punitive damages, as well as fees.
"Forcing transgender students to use the bathroom or locker room that matches their sex designated at birth is not only discrimination but dangerous and causes serious harm to Missouri's youth," said Gillian Wilcox, the ACLU of Missouri's deputy director of litigation, in a statement.
"Both through the constitution and by statute the government, a school in this case, is prohibited from discriminating against the people it is supposed to protect on the basis of either their sex or disability."
Superintendent Jay Harris said in a statement to Newsweek that the district is "in the early stages of evaluating the legal claims."
Harris added: "The District's focus is, and has always been, providing a safe and caring environment for all students. We plan to provide additional information as we learn more."
The ACLU of Missouri has been contacted for further comment via email.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more