Public-school officials in Minersville recently asked that a trans student’s antibias case be dismissed, citing Trump administration educational guidance that stops short of recommending gender-appropriate restroom access for trans students.
“A.H.” is a third-grade student at Minersville Elementary School. She’s requesting a clear policy within the Minersville Area School District, ensuring that trans students have access to gender-appropriate restrooms.
Minersville is located about 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
In response to pro-trans guidance from the Obama administration last year, Minersville school-district officials allowed A.H. to use girls’ restrooms.
However, in March, A.H.’s mother filed a federal civil-rights suit, requesting a permanent district-wide equal-access policy for trans students.
On June 13, district officials filed a 12-page request for A.H’s suit to be dismissed. In the filing, district officials emphasized that A.H. has been permitted to use girls’ restrooms.
“The facts even as pled by plaintiff suggest that the district made every reasonable effort to accommodate plaintiff,” school-district officials maintain.
But district officials also note that the Trump administration in February issued “guidance rollback,” altering previous pro-trans educational guidance from the Obama administration.
“[T]here simply is no legal basis to support a [federal] claim against defendants for alleged transgender discrimination,” the June filing states.
“Also, the district agreed to receive education and training on various topics including transgender student and bathroom policies … The district’s voluntary agreement to the training is further evidence of its willingness to accommodate A.H. and her needs.”
Neither side had a comment for this story.
Justin F. Robinette, a local civil-rights attorney, said trans students face an “uphill battle” for access to gender-appropriate facilities under the Trump administration.
“In June, the Trump administration issued revised educational guidance, which notes that trans students may have some federal protections — but not necessarily access to gender-appropriate restrooms,” Robinette told PGN. “While the Trump administration’s revised guidance doesn’t explicitly oppose equal-access rights for trans students, the Trump administration rolled back Obama’s pro-trans guidance pending further consideration. This means it’s going to be an uphill battle for trans students to convince a judge or jury of their federal equal-access rights, and also that school districts right now won’t lose federal funding if they refuse to provide gender-appropriate facilities.”
Robinette also questioned the assertion by district officials that they’ve attended trans-inclusive sensitivity training.
“That seems disingenuous at best, because district officials won’t do the right thing and enact a trans-inclusive equal-access policy,” Robinette added. “Whatever training district officials underwent couldn’t have been that successful, without a policy.”
As of presstime, the school district’s request for dismissal of A.H.’s suit remained pending with U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani.
If the case is permitted to move forward, a jury trial is expected to take place in July 2018.