The pep rally was
underway as a South Carolina high school student headed to the bathroom.
A
teacher trailed him. The student is transgender, and she wanted to make sure he
used "the right one," he said.
To him, the right one
is the boys' bathroom, which he says he has used since seventh grade without
incident. Then, in his senior year, school administrators told him he had to
use the girls' restroom, he said. They also gave him the option to use the
nurse's restroom.
When he exited the
bathroom, the teacher did not say anything to him, but he knew from the
"exasperated" look on her face that he was in trouble.
The next morning, he
was called into the vice principal's office and told he was suspended for one
day for using the boys' bathroom.
Bathroom access
for transgender teen divides Missouri town
"I started having
a panic attack," he told CNN. "Teachers should never be following
students to the bathroom unless they reek of cigarette smoke or alcohol."
We're not
Caitlyn Jenner: Stories of transgender transitions.
He asked to be
identified as R. because, like many transgender people, he does not want to
publicly identify as transgender. He simply wants to spend his days in the skin
he feels comfortable in.
Instead of returning
to school less than three months before graduation, he enrolled in online
classes for fear of being "outed." Now, he's threatening legal action
against Horry County Schools to make sure other transgender students don't have
to experience what he went through.
A case to test
transgender rights
CNN could not
independently confirm the student's claims, which were laid out in a demand
letter from the Oakland, California-based Transgender Law Center sent Thursday
on R.'s behalf. It appears to be the first test of last week's appeals court
decision that upheld transgender students' rights to use
bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
In that case, the 4th
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 19 in favor of Gavin Grimm, a Virginia
teen who claimed that the Gloucester County School Board violated Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in schools,
by preventing
him from using boys' restrooms in school.The decision is binding on
nine federal district courts in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina
and South Carolina, meaning judges are compelled to follow it as precedent.
It remains to be seen
how lower courts in the conservative circuit will interpret the decision. In
addition to school policy, it could impact legislation such as North
Carolina's controversial law prohibiting transgender people
from using public restrooms for the gender they identify with.
The decision created
an opportunity to show that similar school district policies within the circuit
are just as unconstitutional as Gloucester's policy, said Ilona Turner, legal
director of the Transgender Law Center.
Horry County Schools
Superintendent Rick Maxey would not comment specifically on the allegations but
said the district is working to create a "welcoming environment."
"The district
maintains the privacy of all of its students," Maxey said in an email.
"The district seeks to accommodate the individual needs of its transgender
students in compliance with the law, including Title IX. We will continue our
efforts to ensure a welcoming school environment for all students."
After R. was suspended
in January, a representative for the schools told CNN affiliate WMBF that
the district does not have a specific policy on bathroom use for transgender
students. The representative said the district makes accommodations based on
individual needs and schools.
The Transgender Law
Center's letter asks the school district to remove the suspension from R.'s
record. It also asks the district to give transgender students access to
facilities that match their gender identity and to ensure that all school staff
respect the gender identity of transgender students. If the school does not
comply within a week, center officials might file a complaint with the
Department of Education, which enforces Title IX. Another option is to file a
lawsuit in federal court, similar to the Grimm case.
Source:
edition.cnn
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