A national LGBT legal organization argued last week that a Pennsylvania school district should suspend a policy forcing transgender students to use school restrooms matching their biological sex.
Attorneys from Lambda Legal and those representing Pine-Richland School District presented arguments Dec. 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Lambda filed a lawsuit in the fall on behalf of three transgender students — identified in court papers as Juliet, Elissa and A.S. — after the school board voted 5-4 in September to reverse its longstanding practice of allowing students to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identities.
“What we want is for the policy to not be enforced as the case is moving forward and that’s the nature of our request and what’s currently before the court,” Lambda Legal staff attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan told PGN.
Judge Mark Hornak did not release a timeline for when he would rule on the district’s motion for dismissing the suit nor on Lambda Legal’s request for the policy to be lifted immediately.
“The passage of this fear-based policy sent a terrible message to the whole school community that marked Juliet, Elissa and A.S. as students who are different and somehow not worthy of a safe and equal learning environment,” Gonzalez-Pagan said in a statement. “Senior year only happens once. Juliet, Elissa and A.S. only want to graduate knowing that their school respects them for who they are. Let them enjoy this year free from harassment, and the stigma of a discriminatory policy that is demeaning, degrading and unlawful.”
Gonzales-Pagan said the school district argued that this is an issue about privacy because of “being in the same room as someone else [with] any ideological differences.”
“I think that ignores the reality that regardless of whether you’re transgender or cisgender, we don’t all have the same anatomies,” Gonzalez-Pagan said. “We don’t all have the same bodies for a whole host of different reasons. It’s not really about protecting any students’ privacies but really about fostering and validating discomfort that some people have with transgender people based on misunderstandings.”
Gonzales-Pagan noted that the hearing illustrated that “there has really never been any incidents, any complaints to the school” about transgender students in the restroom except for one instance where a female student noted to her parents that there was a transgender girl in the same restroom as her.
“I wouldn’t call it a complaint,” Gonzales-Pagan said. “I would call it an observation.”
Juliet said in a statement that she feels like she’s “walking on eggshells” when she comes to school.
“It’s not right to be made to feel that way just for being who I am,” Juliet said.
Elissa also pointed out the differences that occurred since the policy was enacted.
“Everything was fine at school,” Elissa said. “For years, I was accepted for who I am, before some parents decided to make a fuss. We just need it to go back to the way it was, when there was no problem.”
PGN reached out to representatives from Pine-Richland School District, who declined to comment.