A federal lawsuit filed today against Vigo County Schools claims two transgender high school students have been illegally denied use of school bathrooms and locker rooms associated with their gender identity.
The lawsuit also requests a preliminary injunction requiring the school personnel to use the male names associated with the students’ gender identities, and to use those male names in school publications such as the yearbook.
The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in the Southern District of Indiana, Terre Haute District, claims the school district has violated the student’s rights and represents intentional discrimination in violation of federal law.
According to an adult representative for the students, both students have chosen to use male names and dress as males since elementary school. Some teachers and students began using those male names and male pronouns for the plaintiffs at that time.
The adult representative has informed administrators at the local high school the two students have been diagnosed by health professionals as having gender dysphoria. Those health professionals have said the students should be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms congruent with their male gender. The students have been prescribed male hormones, the representative said.
The ACLU claims denying these students access to the correct restrooms violates both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.
“Denying a student their right to use the correct restroom is discrimination, plain and simple,” said Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director, in a news release issued at noon today. “Schools should be a safe place for kids and the refusal to allow a student to use the correct restroom can be extremely damaging.”
“The law gives transgender students the same opportunities as their peers to learn, grow, and succeed at school,” said Kathleen Bensberg, staff attorney with the LGBT Project at Indiana Legal Services. “We look forward to working with ACLU to represent these students in this case.”
Students who are denied access to the correct restroom might confront increased bullying and may avoid using the restroom altogether while in school, the ACLU claims.
The ACLU of Indiana has a long history of defending LGBTQ community members and continues to work to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people can live openly without discrimination and enjoy equal rights, personal autonomy and freedom of expression and association.
Indiana Legal Services’ LGBT Project is a statewide legal assistance program providing legal advocacy and representation to LGBTQ Hoosiers to address the disproportionate rates of poverty and violence in the LGBTQ community by assisting with issues that cause and affect poverty, violence, and discrimination.
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