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ACLU of Tennessee files federal complaint over school district’s transgender bathroom policies

This May 11, 2014, photo shows an "All Gender Restroom" sign outside a bathroom in a bar in Washington. Confrontations have flared across the country over whether to protect or curtail the right of transgender people to use public restrooms in accordance with their gender identity.
This May 11, 2014, photo shows an "All Gender Restroom" sign outside a bathroom in a bar in Washington. Confrontations have flared across the country over whether to protect or curtail the right of transgender people to use public restrooms in accordance with their gender identity. This May 11, 2014, photo shows an "All Gender Restroom" sign outside a bathroom in a bar in Washington. Confrontations have flared across the country over whether to protect or curtail the right of transgender people to use public restrooms in accordance with their gender identity.

By Andy Sher 4 min read

NASHVILLE – The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee says it filed a federal complaint against Sumner County schools, saying the Middle Tennessee school district’s policy that bars transgender students from using restrooms corresponding with their “gender identity” violates federal anti-discrimination law and the U.S. Constitution.

The complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on behalf of a transgender high school freshman and her parents.

It calls for the district to be required to allow the student use the girls’ restrooms and locker rooms at school as well as develop a new policy ensuring that transgender students be treated the same as other students.

The ACLU-Tennessee filing comes in the midst of a boiling debate in Tennessee and nationally over transgender students’ use of restrooms. The U.S. Department of Justice recently sued the state of North Carolina over a somewhat similar law. Just last week the Obama administration issued guidance directing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity or risk losing federal funding.

In the ACLU-Tennessee news release, cooperating attorney Abby R. Rubenfeld said “no student should have to endure the stigma and marginalization of being segregated from the rest of the student body. These kinds of blanket bans prevent transgender students from being treated fairly and equally at school.”