The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee filed a complaint Thursday with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against a public high school for not allowing transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
According to ACLU-TN, the bathroom policy of Tennessee's Sumner County Schools regarding transgender students violates the U.S. Constitution and federal anti-discrimination laws.
“No student should have to endure the stigma and marginalization of being segregated from the rest of the student body,” said ACLU-TN cooperating attorney Abby R. Rubenfeld.
The organization filed the complaint on behalf of a transgender high school student and her parents to demand the Department of Education’s assistance in enforcing federal law regarding the treatment of transgender students in public schools.
This case takes place in a moment that North Carolina Republican lawmakers are trying to implement a controversial law that requires transgender people to use restrooms that match the sex on their birth certificate, regardless of how they actually identify.
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The name of the affected student —who according to the complaint identifies himself as a man— has not been revealed in order to prevent bullying.
He is only allowed to use the faculty or the special needs bathroom, while in order to avoid the stigma of using segregated restrooms, he tries to avoid using the restroom at all during the school day, or uses the girls’ restroom under fear of punishment by school officials.
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Before asking for legal assistance, the family tried unsuccessfully to work out reasonable accommodations with the school system for the entire 2015-2016 academic year.
In a statement given by the school to ABC News, the institution reaffirmed its position saying that transgender students must use the general restroom and locker room facilities corresponding to their birth gender.