For almost two years, Susan, a transgender female was allowed to use the girls bathroom at her elementary school in Orno, Maine until her 5th grade year when she was forced to use the staff bathroom instead.
Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA) specifically prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, including gender identity and expression, in any public facility including public schools/educational institutions. The MHRA states that an educational institution is:
“Any public school or educational program, any public post-secondary institution, any private school or educational program approved for tuition purposes if both male and female students are admitted and the governing body of each such school or program. For purposes related to disability-related discrimination, ‘educational institution’ also means any private school or educational program approved for tuition purposes.”
In short, this discrimination continued against Susan into middle school and in 2009 her parents files a suit against the school district for violations of the MHRA. The district filed a motion to dismiss, and in 2011 the Superior Court denied Susan’s parents claim and found that the school was not discriminating based on the language of the MHRA.
Since then, schools around the U.S. have used this case as a precedent to prohibit transgender students from using the bathrooms of the gender that they identify with. This is not only discrimination; this is a violation of privacy and is extremely harmful to students because it stigmatizes them as the only ones using a different bathroom.
Imagine for a moment that you are at a restaurant and you head for the restroom, when suddenly a person stops you at the door and requires you to prove your gender before allowing you use the facilities. How would you feel?
GLAAD has worked with Susan and her family and is appealing the case—hoping it will make it all the way to the Supreme Court because there are also federal laws that prohibit public schools that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex.
We will watch and post as this story unfolds.
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