The transgender movement may be losing the “bathroom wars” in the court of public opinion as parents fight back, but they are thus far winning in the courts of law. Earlier this month, a Missouri jury ordered a school in the Kansas City area to pay $4 million to a student who identified as transgender for denying her access to the boys’ bathroom.
The Jackson County jury on Dec. 13 found the Blue Springs R-IV School District had sexually discriminated against the former student after denying the student access to the boys’ restrooms and locker rooms at Delta Woods Middle School and the Freshman Center, FOX4 Kansas City reported, citing the lawsuit. The school district told Fox News in a statement that it “disagrees with the verdict and will be seeking appropriate relief from the trial court and court of appeals if necessary.”
The lawsuit, which was filed in 2015, alleged that the student was not permitted into either locker rooms or bathrooms at the middle school despite having changed her name and birth certificate to “male” through the Jackson County Circuit Court, meaning that the state of Missouri formally recognized the female student as male. Despite the school providing a bathroom for the student’s use, the court deemed this not good enough.
It is tempting to dismiss these stories as tempests in teapots (or toilets), but let me cite just a few examples of how these transgender policies are impacting students. Girls in Scotland are refusing to use gender-neutral bathrooms because they feel uncomfortable. In fact, some U.K. authorities are warning that many girls prefer to risk bladder infection rather than use a bathroom that is open to boys. In Alberta, Canada, girls were afraid to use the bathroom after a transgender bathroom policy was passed.
