A transgender minor and his family are taking South Carolina to court over the state’s transphobic school bathroom policy. Based on past precedent, there’s promise that the class action lawsuit could prevail and restore protections for trans students in the state.
In July, South Carolina enacted Proviso 1.120, a law that penalizes schools for allowing transgender students to use bathrooms according to their gender identity. Schools who do not comply with the provision risk losing a quarter of federal funding.
Sex is defined there as “person’s biological sex, either male or female as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth,” making no mention of intersex students. The provision goes on to state that “evidence of a person’s biological sex includes, but is not limited to, any government-issued identification document that accurately reflects a person’s sex as listed on the person’s original birth certificate issued at or near the time of birth.”
John Doe, the anonymous 13-year-old trans student on whose behalf the lawsuit was filed, was suspended and threatened with eventual expulsion for using the restroom that aligned with his gender identity.
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His parents subsequently took him out of school. “I will not allow school officials or lawmakers to dehumanize my child because of their own ignorance. Adults need to educate themselves, read the science, and stop attacking students,” the plaintiff’s father said in a statement, per The Advocate. “All students deserve to feel safe and supported in school, including my son.”
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The plaintiffs are represented by Wardenski PC, who are charging the school with violating Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in eduction and which the Biden administration recently expanded to include gender identity in the definition of sex. Lawyers are seeking an immediate injunction to block enforcement of Proviso 1.120.
“Every day that Proviso 1.120 remains in effect, countless transgender students across South Carolina are being harmed,” Joseph Wardenski, founder of Wardenski PC, said in a statement. “As courts around the country have held, these types of bathroom bans cause trans students to suffer needless and preventable stigma, distress, and physical injuries. To prevent these harms, we will ask the court to intervene immediately to stop South Carolina from enforcing this discriminatory policy.”
The suit could reach the Fourth Circuit Court, which previously ruled in 2020’s Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board case that transphobic bathroom bans are unconstitutional. While that ruling applied to school districts in Virginia, it provides precedent to bolster the plaintiff’s case.
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