A transgender teenager boy in Kenosha, Wisconsin is suing school officials at Kenosha Unified School District for allegedly planning to make him and other transgender students wear bright green wristbands for bathroom identification.
Ash Whitaker, 16 years old, is suing for the right to use the restroom of their choice at school.
"Branding transgender students in this way would single them out for additional scrutiny, stigma, and potentially harassment or violence, and violate their privacy by revealing their transgender status to others," reads the lawsuit filed in federal court.
Anti-trans legislation restricting bathroom use has been recently shaking up states such as North Carolina and Mississippi. Transgender students across the U.S. have been fighting for years to use the bathrooms of their choice at shcool.
Whitaker's lawsuit claims that a guidance counselor showed him a green wristband the school intended to make him and other transgender students wear the following school year. The wristband would be used to alert teachers to stop Whitaker from entering the boy's restroom since his birth certificate has his sex listed as female, according to his complaint. Based on his birth certificate, Whitaker is compelled to use the girls' restroom, which causes him extreme distress.
"He was also deeply distressed by the prospect of using the office restroom...far out of the way from most of his classes—and is only used by office staff and visitors," Whitaker's lawsuit.
Moreover, school staff refer to Whitaker with female pronouns, using his female birth name, fail to "inform substitute teachers and other staff members" of his preferred name and pronouns, force him to room with female students on school trips and tried to exclude him from running for prom king, despite being nominated. He was able to run for prom king, nonetheless, only after a series of protests.
According to Whitakers lawyer, school officials are in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Furthermore, the lawsuit states that school officials must treat Whitaker and other transgender students as their preferred gender identities and stop any discrimination against transgender students.
The school updated its policies earlier this month to ban forms of discrimination based on gender but noted that if a student wanted to use a restroom of their choice, that would be decided by a school counselor or principal on a case-to-case basis.
Source: Mashable
Share It To Your Friends!
