#transstudents

70% of trans students avoid bathrooms because they feel unsafe/uncomfortable. Read more: http://lgbtmap.org/transgender-youth-school

TOMORROW: TLC and GSA Network will host an online Town Hall On Transgender Student Rights.

The Trump administration has rescinded a guidance on transgender students. We are bringing together trans youth leaders, community leaders, legal experts and allies from across the country to discuss what this means and what's next for trans youth advocacy.

Federal Court Rules That High School Must Let Trans Students Use Bathroom of Their Gender Identity

Three transgender students at Pine-Richlands High School were unfairly discriminated against last year when their school passed a policy that didn’t allow them to use the bathroom of their respective gender identity. The students took the school to court, and we are happy to see that they won in a federal district court yesterday.

Judge Mark R. Hornak wrote in the ruling:

“The Plaintiffs appear to the Court to be young people seeking to do what young people try to do every day-go to school, obtain an education, and interact as equals with their peers. …[T] he Plaintiffs have shown a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the District’s enforcement of Resolution 2 as to their use of common school restrooms does not afford them equal protection of the law as guaranteed to them by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan mentioned Trump in his official statement:

“Not with-standing the Trump Administration’s misguided and cruel actions last week, the court today found that the school’s policy barring transgender students from the restroom that matches who they are violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution…such policies are not only wrong, they are illegal. The rescission of a guidance by the Trump administration cannot change that.”

In response to the ruling, Elissa Redinour, one of the trans students involved in the case, said, “The past months have been incredibly stressful, and this was all so unnecessary. There was no problem before, and we are confident there will be no problem now.”

One of the students in the case, a minor, is reportedly the transgender sister of Jackie Evancho, the celebrity who agreed to perform at Trump’s inauguration.

Here’s hoping that we see more outcomes like this in court in the near future, now that Trump has ended federal protections for transgender students.

Every student deserves a fair chance to succeed in school and to be protected from discrimination & bullying.

60% of transgender students have been barred from using facilities that match the gender that they live every day. Read more: http://lgbtmap.org/transgender-youth-school