The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear an Indiana public school district defend its sex-segregated bathrooms.
The high court made no comment when it rejected the Martinsville Metropolitan School District’s appeal of a lower court ruling that barred transgender students from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with violates students’ constitutional rights and federal anti-discrimination laws.
Attorneys for the school district have asked the court to “preserve the school board’s autonomy to make decisions.”
A spokesman for Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita criticized the Supreme Court for its inaction, saying it “did not take the necessary opportunity to provide clarity.”
“It would be absurd for SCOTUS not to resolve differences in federal cases — but because of this split — children in other parts of the country would be properly protected,” the spokeswoman told The Post in an email.
“Unfortunately for now, our schools will be forced to allow transgender students to use whichever bathroom they feel matches the gender identity they choose to use that day. We will continue our fight so normal, sane Hoosier parents can raise their children free of this toxic transience.”
The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected an Indiana public school district’s request to defend a policy that restricts bathroom access through sex. AP
The case began in 2022 when the mother of a 7th grade transgender boy — identified in court papers as “AC” — won her lawsuit challenging a Martinsville Metropolitan School District policy that prevented her son from using the boys’ restroom.
AC was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and is in the process of legally changing her name and gender on her birth certificate, according to the lawsuit.
The Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an order that schools allow access to bathrooms that match students’ gender identity the following year.
The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal brought by the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville, Indiana. Getty Images
The school district has argued that Title IX allows schools to provide separate bathrooms based on gender and that equal protection concerns do not prevent schools from protecting the interests of other students “in protecting their bodies from exposure to the opposite sex.”
The transgender rights case is not the first that the Supreme Court – which has a 6-3 conservative majority – has thrown out.
Last year, however, it refused to allow West Virginia to enforce a state law banning transgender athletes from women’s sports teams in public schools, one of many Republican-backed measures around the country targeting LGBT rights.
Other federal courts around the country have been divided over school policies that require transgender students to use restrooms that match their birth sex.
The US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Virginia found the Virginia school policy unconstitutional, while the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit upheld one in the Florida school.
At least nine states restrict transgender students to bathrooms that match the gender they were assigned at birth.
By Postal Wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
