When officials at Platte County High School allegedly forced a transgender girl to use the boys' restroom while other facilities were unavailable, an LGBTQ advocate said it put her in a dangerous position.
"She experienced threats of rape as a direct result,” said Peter Renn, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, a national legal group that represents LGBTQ persons. “That is truly outrageous and no student should have to jeopardize their safety as part of the price of going to school."
Renn was reacting to the news that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri sued the Platte County School District alleging discrimination based on a student’s transgender status, her sex assigned at birth, and her gender dysphoria diagnosis.
“It’s often overlooked by people non-transgender people how important it is to be able to use facilities consistent with your gender on an everyday basis,” Renn told the St. Louis Record. “When you're deprived of that very basic ability, it has a direct impact on your everyday life, from navigating your day safely to being able to focus on your schoolwork instead of having to be distracted by physical pain fearing for your safety.”
The complaint alleges that the student was verbally warned, harassed and then suspended by school officials because she would not use the boys’ restroom.
“The legal claims here are on sound footing because the vast majority of courts nationwide have recognized that transgender students have an equal Right to use facilities matching their gender identity as everyone else,” Renn said in an interview. “So, the claims here have very solid support across the country from courts that have ruled on similar issues.”
Dr. Jay Harris, superintendent of schools, said the district is in the early stages of evaluating the lawsuit.
“The District’s focus is, and has always been, providing a safe and caring environment for all students,” he said.
As previously reported by CBS, the student, identified as R.F., started transitioning to the opposite gender in 2019 and finished her freshman year online after experiencing depression and anxiety.
“It's disheartening at the very least to hear that the school took such overtly discriminatory actions in response to a student's reasonable request for equal treatment and I would hope that this type of experience is the exception rather than the rule but the reality is, transgender students and youth in general are under attack across the country simply for existing and being who they are," Renn said.
The lawsuit, filed in Platte County in the Sixth Judicial Circuit on July 31, seeks a declaratory judgement as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
“Defendants’ actions, inactions, practices, and policies related to restroom and locker room use target, restrict, and ban the use of certain restrooms and locker rooms for transgender youth based on generalized fears, negative attitudes, stereotypes, and moral disapproval of transgender people that are not legitimate bases for unequal treatment under any level of scrutiny,” the complaint states.