On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case in regard to Indiana school districts refusing to let their transgender students use bathrooms that align with their gender identities. The case revolved around a now-teenaged transgender young man who was denied entry into the boys’ restroom at his former middle school. This is of course one of the many transgender-related cases the court has encountered; as transgender students everywhere across the U.S. have been challenging their school districts’ policies holding that these policies violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Title IX, which is the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination, according to The Hill.
The Supreme Court oddly appears to be reluctant to get involved with these kinds of matters given that they have already declined two other cases similar to this one. The case of a West Virginian transgender girl who was denied the ability to compete in her middle school track team as well as a case involving a transgender woman being denied hormone treatment while incarcerated.
The transgender Indiana young man who is referred to by the courts as “A.C.” was negated the right to use the boys’ restroom and locker room. He was also rejected by the boys’ soccer team and was addressed with female pronouns instead of male ones. There are roughly nine states across the U.S. that are denying transgender students the right to use facilities that match their sex identification.
“Litigation over transgender rights is occurring all over the country, and we assume that at some point the Supreme Court will step in with more guidance than it has furnished so far”, Judge Diane Wood said about the matter as per AP News.
