Transgender students have filed a federal lawsuit to upend a Tennessee law requiring students use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their biological sex, as schools ready to welcome children back for a new school year.
The Human Rights Campaign filed the lawsuit on behalf of two transgender students, one 14-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.
They allege that the state law requiring students, teachers and faculty in schools to use restrooms and locker rooms based on their sex runs afoul of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by singling them out for differential treatment.
It also alleges the law violates Title IX, which prevents discrimination in schools on the basis of sex. The Biden administration has expanded the protections against “sex” discrimination to include gender identification.
“The School Facilities Law tells transgender individuals in no uncertain terms that they are different and less valuable,” the students’ Tennessee lawsuit read.
The school bathroom bill went into effect July 1 after Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed it into law.
A spokesperson from the governor’s office said it will not comment on pending litigation.
The case is pending before Judge Eli Richardson, a Trump appointee, in the Middle District of Tennessee.
Tennessee also recently passed laws banning minors from taking hormone treatment, requiring high-school athletes to compete according to their sex, ordering that parents be notified when their children will learn about LGBT issues in schools, and requiring that businesses post outside public restrooms if transgender people may be using the facility of the other sex.
The law requiring transgender-warning signage was halted by a federal judge last month, reasoning it violated the First Amendment rights of business owners.
Earlier this year the Supreme Court refused to take up a case involving a transgender male student at a Virginia high school, who sued over a bathroom policy forcing him to use a separate restroom and changing facility.
The justices’ move declining to review the matter left in place a lower court ruling for the student, finding the school policy was discriminatory.
Only two justices — Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. — would have heard the legal challenge. It takes four justices to grant review of a case. Pro-LGBT groups hailed the high court’s move as a win against segregating transgender students in school facilities.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.