A federal court on Friday cited Bostock
v. Clayton County in ruling in favor of a transgender student who
had been denied use of the bathroom of his choice.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court's ruling that found a Florida
school district had wrongfully denied Drew Adams access to the boys'
restroom.
Adams, a former student at Allen D.
Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Florida, filed his lawsuit in 2017.
He is currently attending the University of Central Florida.
“I am very happy to see justice
prevail, after spending almost my entire high school career fighting
for equal treatment,” Adams said in a statement. “High school is
hard enough without having your school separate you from your peers
and mark you as inferior. I hope this decision helps save other
transgender students from having to go through that painful and
humiliating experience.”
Adams was represented by Lambda Legal.
“Today, the court sent a clear
message that schools must treat transgender students with the same
dignity and respect as any other student,” Lambda Legal's Tar
Borelli said. “The trial court was correct when it ruled that the
law requires that Drew Adams be treated like every other boy and be
allowed to use the boys' restroom. We are glad the court saw the
school board's policy as unjust and discriminatory, and affirmed the
inherent dignity of transgender students.”
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court in
Bostock found that sex discrimination as it relates to
workplace protections applies to sexual orientation and gender
identity. The high court's opinion in Bostock expanded the
definition of sex in federal laws to include people who identify as
LGBT.
(Related: Supreme
Court: Federal law protects LGBT workers from discrimination.)
“Bostock confirmed that
workplace discrimination against transgender people is contrary to
law,” the appeals court wrote. “Neither should this
discrimination be tolerated in schools. The School Board's bathroom
policy, as applied to Mr. Adams, singled him out for different
treatment because of his transgender status.”
LGBT
activists have called on the Trump administration to implement
Bostock.