Ruling affirms 2016 Title IX guidance; repudiates DOJ/DOE rescission
Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that discrimination against transgender students—including excluding them from school restrooms consistent with their gender identity—violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution. The appeals court affirmed a preliminary injunction in favor of Ash Whitaker of Kenosha, Wisconsin, a student whose school forced him to use segregated restrooms which separated him from peers.
NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling released the following statement in response to the decision:
“This powerful decision—another in a growing list of rulings affirming the Constitutional rights of transgender people—helps Ash and tens of thousands of students like him get the same opportunity to learn as any other student. It recognizes that fully respecting and including transgender students like Ash Whitaker is legally and morally the right thing to do, and that discrimination against these young people because of who they are is cruel, wrong and illegal.”
Four other federal appeals courts and numerous district courts have held that federal sex discrimination laws such as Title IX prohibit anti-transgender discrimination.
