Indiana: A Federal judge stood by a previous ruling of allowing a transgender student to use boys’ restroom in the school which was challenged in federal court.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, denied the motion by the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville to put on hold a previous ruling which forced the John R. Wooden middle school to allow the transgender student to use the boys’ restroom.
Judge Pratt ruled the district failed to show the evidence for their objection proving that it will be suffering “irreparable harm” if the student was allowed to use the boys’ bathroom.
“This speculative harm is both unsupported by any evidence and appears questionable, given that the School District allows other transgender students to use the restrooms associated with their gender identity,” wrote Judge Pratt.
She further stated, “In addition, the School District has not presented any new arguments or evidence to demonstrate that the public interest weighs in favor of maintaining the School District’s authority over such matters until more clear and direct guidance on Title IX is provided.”
She further wrote that the student in question has been using the boys’ restroom for the past three weeks and only two weeks are left in this school year; there shouldn’t be an issue if the student continues using the same restroom for the next two weeks as well.
The school had stopped the transgender student from using the boys’ washroom previously and had also prohibited the student from playing on the male sports team and used pronouns like “him” or “he”.
The school had objected and appealed against the original verdict and argued over the previous injunctions made by Judge Pratt stating that it “would be disruptive of the school’s operations… and undermine the order and authority of the school.”
The Metropolitan School District of Martinsville’s legal team has not made any comment regarding the new ruling by federal judge Pratt.
