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A 13-year-old transgender boy is suing Berkeley County Schools and the state for refusing to allow him to use the bathroom that aligns with the gender to which he identifies in order to comply with a new state rule. The federal lawsuit, which also names state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, seeks class-action status to represent the estimated 3,000 transgender students in South Carolina schools now subject to these restrictions. "I really do fear for so many of them," said Chase Glenn, executive director of the Alliance for Full Acceptance , a Charleston-based LGBTQ advocacy group that also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"They are just so vulnerable right now." Charleston transgender man leads lawsuit against state, MUSC over denial of care The lawsuit, filed Nov. 12 in Charleston, also names the S.
C. Board of Education, the state Department of Education and Berkeley County Superintendent Anthony Dixon. It was filed on behalf of the boy, who is listed as John Doe, and his parents, as well as the Alliance for Full Acceptance.
It was filed by Public Justice, a national legal advocacy group, along with other civil rights law firms. In addition to seeking to represent all trans students in South Carolina impacted by the state rule, it also seeks a temporary and permanent injunction against schools from enforcing it. Those motions are currently pending a hearing.
South Carolina is "willfully violating the law, and we think that's even more reason why the district court should step in as soon as possible to adjoin it," said Joseph Wardenski, a New York City-based civil rights attorney who is helping to represent the plaintiffs. A spokesman for Weaver and the Department of Education said they would have no comment, citing pending litigation. A spokeswoman for Berkeley County schools did not respond to a request for comment.
Trans families face grim future in SC as lawmakers make final push to end care for minors The state rule in question is known as a budget proviso, a rider attached by the Legislature to the state budget for this fiscal year that directs agencies on spending state funds. The rule requires schools to allow students only to use the restroom of their sex as assigned at birth or risk losing up to 25 percent of their state funding. After attempts to pass a state law to that effect failed in both the House and Senate during the last legislative session, proponents turned to the budget maneuver — even though the lawsuit contends they knew courts had already found such rules unconstitutional.
In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled against a Virginia school district that had prevented a transgender student from using the restroom that aligned with his identity, finding it had violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and also the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court let the decision stand in 2021 by not taking up the case.
While the Biden administration sought to ensure that transgender students rights' were preserved by Title IX, the fact that the Trump administration is now taking over — and could have a different view of transgender students — should not impact the ruling, according to Wardenski. "It doesn't matter because the courts have felt we are not relying on the Biden administration's regulatory interpretation," he said. "We're relying on the statute itself and the Fourth Circuit's interpretation of that statute, as well as under the Constitution's" Equal Protection Clause against discrimination.
The lawsuit contends that the child has always known he is a boy and has always dressed and presented himself as a boy. He started attending Berkeley County schools in kindergarten and has been open about being transgender since seventh grade. When the fall semester began in August, he used the boys' restroom and no boys complained, the lawsuit contends.
Teachers noticed and reported the matter to the administration. The new state rule went into effect July 1. Officials with the state education department repeatedly told schools they needed to enforce it.
An assistant principal told the teen to use the girls' restroom or the restroom in the nurse's office. But the student explained neither the girls nor he would be comfortable with him using that bathroom and having to use the nurse's restroom "would single him out and put a target on his back for harassment," according to the lawsuit. John Doe continued using the boys' room.
The assistant principal met with the student and his father, informing them the student was being suspended for a day, the lawsuit states. The principal warned of escalating punishment if the practice of using the boys' restroom persisted. After the suspension, teachers monitored the student's bathroom use, his efforts to avoid using any facilities and increased harassment from students who became aware of his dilemma.
In September, the parents withdrew their child from school. He is taking part in the district's online classes, which he does not like and has become disinterested in. He would like to go back to school if he could be himself, the lawsuit says.
MUSC Health halts gender-affirming care for adults as well as children after new state law The state rule comes on top of another state law passed last year which bans transgender therapy for minors. Because it bars public funds from supporting that therapy, the law resulted in a number of transgender adults losing their care as well. The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina and others are challenging that law in federal court.
It all falls on these students right now, said Glenn of the Alliance for Full Acceptance. "What I hear from parents is, this is one more thing on top of the other things that they're also dealing with," he said. "I think a lot of families are really struggling right now.
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