17-year-old transgender student Drew Adams has won his legal battle against his local school board in order to be granted access to the correct bathroom facilities.
A student at Allan D. Nease High School, Adams transitioned to his male gender during the eighth grade in 2015, and was using the male restroom facilities since then. However, in June 2017 he was pulled out of class and told by the school guidance counsellor that he would have to use either the girls bathroom, or a unisex restroom in the school office, following an anonymous complaint.
Adams said that he found the schools decision to be 'insulting', and said that if he were made to use the unisex facilities in the school office he would miss valuable education as the facility is far away from where he has his lessons.
Adams and his family decided to take legal action against the school district for what they felt was a discriminatory decision.
On Thursday July 26th, Judge Timothy J Corrigan of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that the school board had engaged in unlawful discrimination. Corrigan said that, 'Everyone agrees that boys should use the boys’ restroom at Nease and that girls should use the girls’ restroom. The parties disagree over whether Drew Adams is a boy. I can only answer that question with the evidence given to me at trial.
'Drew Adams says he is a boy and has undergone extensive surgery to conform his body to his gender identity; medical science says he is a boy; the State of Florida says so; and the Florida High School Athletic Association says so. Other than at his school, Adams uses the mens’ bathroom wherever he goes, including in this federal courthouse during trial. Even the St. Johns County School Board regards Adams as a boy in every way, except for which bathroom he can use.
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| Nease High principal Lisa Kunze said at the trial when asked if she considers Adams a boy, 'I do not'. |
'When confronted with something affecting our children that is new, outside of our experience, and contrary to gender norms we thought we understood, it is natural that parents want to protect their children. But the evidence is that Drew Adams poses no threat to the privacy or safety of any of his fellow students.
'Rather, Drew Adams is just like every other student at Nease High School, a teenager coming of age in a complicated, uncertain and changing world. When it comes to his use of the bathroom, the law requires that he be treated like any other boy. As a boy, Adams must be permitted to use the boys’ restroom at school.'
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, the attorney for the Adams family, said Thursday’s ruling sets the stage for other transgender cases. 'I think it will show to other school districts across Florida and across the country that they better watch out, and they can’t discriminate against transgender students. Otherwise they will be subject to lawsuits because they will be violating the Constitution and federal civil rights law.'
Erica Adams Kesper, Drew's mother said after the case, 'I am still heartbroken to know that the place my child spends more time than at home with me was discriminating against him for being transgender, but I am so relieved that the court has put a stop to this humiliating restroom policy. If there's something you don't know, do the research, look it up, learn the science. Learn what's going on in the world and be open-minded. I just trust Drew to be who he is, and it's the best support any parent can give.'
Adams, who is both an honour student who plans on attending medical school to become a psychologist, and a volunteer at the Mayo Centre, was also awarded $1,000 in compensation for damages caused by the school.
'I am so grateful that I can just focus on being a regular kid at school.' He told the press. 'I have so many other things on my mind, like getting into my top college choice, so I don’t want to have to worry about whether I can use the boys’ restroom. It was upsetting to think my school didn’t want me because I am transgender, and I hope no one else has to feel like that.'
According to court documents, when Allan D. Nease High School principal Lisa Kunze was asked whether she considered Adams to be a boy, she replied, ‘I do not.'
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