U.S. Supreme Court Won't Hear Indiana Transgender Student...

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WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court has declined to hear a federal court ruling about an Indiana transgender student and the restroom policy at his school.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the ACLU of Indiana called the high court’s decline a “momentous victory for the transgender youth of Indiana.”

“I think what this does is normalizes reality,” says Ken Falk, Legal Director of the ACLU of Indiana, “which is that we’re dealing with young persons whose gender identities are different than the sex they were assigned at birth.”

You may remember the case which began in December of 2021. The ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville, claiming the district violated Title IX by not allowing a transgender boy to use the restroom “consistent with his gender.”

The ACLU also claimed the school district violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

In August of 2023, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the school district did likely violate the student’s rights.

“This decision recognizes that they (school district) must, under both federal statutory law and under equal protection, be allowed to use the restroom associated with their gender identity,” Falk explains, “that’s happening in many school districts around Indiana already and its not causing any problems. Hopefully, this will further normalize that relationship and normalize that behavior.”

Falk also mentioned a recent injunction the ACLU of Indiana was granted against a relatively new state law which prohibits specific gender medical care given to a transgender person under the age of 18, “that law has been stopped and it’s on appeal. It’s going to be argued in the Appellate Court in Chicago on February 16th.”

That law, along with another passed last legislative session which prevented schools from allowing a minor to use another name and pronoun without their parent’s knowledge, was referred to as a “slate of hate” from Democrat lawmakers in Indiana.