Ed Law Briefly: School Officials Discriminated Against Transgender Student in Denying Use of the Bathroom of Choice

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RCEd Commentary

Background: In Maine, a fifth grade student who was born a boy began to socially identify as a girl at an early age. The youngster was permitted to use the school’s female communal student restroom.  However, after a few complaints, the school changed its policy. The student’s family and the Maine Human Rights Commission filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging the school policy violated Maine’s Human Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation. The Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics filed a “friend of the court” legal brief in the case arguing that transgender students should be permitted to use the bathroom of their choice.

The school district prevailed at trial, with the  court interpreting two seemingly contradictory provisions of Maine state law. Specifically, Maine’s public accommodation provision seems to prohibit transgender discrimination, while Maine’s sanitary provision requires separate restrooms based on sex. Some educators argued that the clash causes confusion, and that Maine’s legislature needs to resolve the discrepancy between the two laws. The case was appealed to the state’s high court. 

Issue: Did school officials discriminate against fifth-grade Student Doe under Maine’s law or were they exercising good judgment and discretion?

Legal Principles: The appeals court was asked to decide whether prohibiting a transgender student born male (but identifying as a female) from using the girls’ bathroom was a proper decision or unjustified discrimination. If discriminatory, was the action forbidden under Maine’s Human Rights Act, and does that legally trump the sanitary facilities provision?

Outcome: Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court overturned the trial court’s earlier ruling. The 5-1 decision concluded that school officials discriminated based on the student’s sexual orientation under Maine’s Human Rights Act. The court stressed that in this case it had been clearly established that a student’s psychological well-being and educational success depended upon being permitted to use the restroom consistent with her gender identity.  The lower court’s decision was vacated and the case was remanded.

Interestingly, it was reported in other media outlets that the court ordered the school district to pay $75,000 to the plaintiff and her attorneys.

Lessons for Principals and Teachers:

  • Although this is only a decision based on one state’s law, school officials should try to accommodate transgendered students’ reasonable requests to use the restroom that matches their gender identity. Challenges in other states (e.g., California and Colorado), also make this suggestion.
  • Even though this issue has not been litigated in many jurisdictions, it appears likely that transgendered students who have faced discrimination would have a winning legal claim under some states’ laws, the U.S. Constitution, and/or Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
  • This week’s case specifically focuses on restrooms, but a recent Dear Colleague letter from the U.S. Department of Education, requires school districts to respond immediately to eliminate a hostile environment in any school-sponsored activity. Dear Colleague letters are preemptive guidance to school personnel about how the Department interprets and enforces the law, and is persuasive with judges facing those precise questions in court cases.
  • School districts should consider a policy that includes gender identity within their broader anti-discrimination policies.

Maine Supreme Judicial Court:
Doe v. Reg'l Sch. Unit 26, 2014 ME 11 (Me. 2014).

Note: This information is not intended as legal advice. Federal and other court decisions can differ depending on what region of the country you live in. State laws also weigh in on certain issues. All cases are for educational purposes only, and meant to demonstrate how courts or administrative agencies have acted in specific instances as well as to provide information that can bolster the overall legal literacy of teachers and administrators. Local school attorneys can provide more detail about local law.

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