The policy had been challenged by Drew Adams, a transgender man who sued in 2017 after being barred from using the boys' bathroom when he attended the Allen D. Nease High School in Florida.
A sharply divided federal appeals court on Friday, December 30, upheld a Florida high school’s policy forbidding transgender students from using bathrooms that accord with their chosen identities.
“This is an aberrant ruling that contradicts the rulings of every other circuit to consider the question across the country,” Tara Borelli, a lawyer with Lambda Legal representing Adams, said in a statement. “We will be reviewing and evaluating this dangerous decision over the weekend.”All seven judges in the Atlanta-based appeals court majority were appointed by Republican presidents, including six by Donald Trump, while the four dissenting judges were Democratic appointees.
Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa disagreed, saying the school board had an important interest in protecting students’ privacy, and calling it “wrong” to suggest it relied on illegal stereotypes of transgender people.