The mother of an 8-year-old trans girl filed a federal lawsuit this week, seeking to establish a clear right for her daughter to use girls’ restrooms at Minersville Elementary School.
Minersville is located about 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia. “A.H.” is a second-grade student at the school.
The named defendants are Minersville School District Superintendent Carl McBreen and Minersville Elementary School principal James Yacobacci.
They weren’t immediately available for comment.
A.H. has gender dysphoria, which school officials allegedly have known about since January 2015. Yet Yacobacci allegedly repeatedly misgendered A.H. and blocked her from accessing girls’ restrooms in the past, according to the suit.
Yacobacci allegedly cited “privacy concerns of the other students” when preventing A.H. from using girls’ restrooms, according to the suit.
“[Yacobacci] said they felt they were accommodating A.H. to the fullest by providing unisex bathrooms,” the suit asserts. “A.H. was the only student required to use the unisex bathrooms. [Yacobacci] told A.H.’s mother that they needed to protect the other students from her daughter, who was seven years old at the time.”
In May 2016, A.H. filed an antibias complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, which resulted in guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The guidance evidently persuaded school officials to allow A.H. to use girls’ restrooms. However, officials haven’t enacted a specific restroom-use policy to this day, according to the lawsuit.
Additionally, school officials allegedly retaliated against A.H. by refusing to provide her with a proper education and mistreating family members who advocate on her behalf, according to the suit.
“The actions of all defendants have deprived A.H. of her right to equal dignity, autonomy and liberty by branding her as different, less valuable and second-class — all because of her gender identity,” the suit alleges.
A.H.’s family is seeking more than $150,00 in damages, along with remedial actions within the district, including a trans-friendly restroom-access policy, staff training and treatment of A.H. as a girl during all educational and extra-curricular activities.
Jason D. Schiffer, an attorney for A.H.’s mother, said A.H. continues to suffer due to the alleged mistreatment.
“A.H. has suffered immeasurably because of this,” Schiffer told PGN. “The protections of the U.S. Constitution and Title IX of the Educational Act of 1972 extend to everyone, regardless of gender identity. We just hope the defendants will recognize that fact, and promptly institute the remedial measures we’re requesting.”
Schiffer noted that A.H. recently obtained a revised birth certificate with a female gender designation.
“School officials barred A.H. from girls’ restrooms — even during educational field trips — citing her [prior] male birth certificate,” Schiffer added. “They’ve intimidated her mother when she’s advocated on her behalf. Now that A.H. has a female birth certificate, we still don’t have assurances that won’t happen. And we don’t have assurances A.H. always will be treated as a girl, in all areas of her educational life.”
Schiffer emphasized that most people in the Minersville community have been very supportive of A.H. “She’s received overwhelming support,” he noted.
The case remains pending in federal court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. A judge hadn’t been assigned, as of presstime.
A jury trial has been requested.
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