With a transgender student in Minnesota winning a $300,000 settlement over a discrimination claim, a research assistant believes more schools will feel inclined to fall in line.

Jared Eckert of The Heritage Foundation, a center-right think tank and outspoken critic of federal legislation such as The Equality Act measure currently before the Senate, thinks cases like this add pressure to school districts and to doctors’ offices.

“We’re already seeing it with how things are playing out in South Dakota, with threats from Amazon to pull out from the state and not be a contributor to its industry and economy,” Eckert notes. “So I think there is definitely pressure building, culturally speaking, for schools and other organizations to cave, otherwise be faced with these types of settlements.”

The Minnesota student, identified only as “Nick,” was born female but now identifies as a male. In 2016, Nick wanted to use the boys’ locker room, but the Anoka-Hennepin School District did not allow that to happen, even though Nick’s attorneys at American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota said the student had been welcomed by and participated on the boys’ swim team for much of the season.

“Nick was singled out and forced to use segregated changing facilities that no other students were required to use,” says ACLU in a press release. “This discrimination led to bullying and threats against his family, causing Nick emotional distress and harm.”

In October, a federal appeals court ruled on behalf of the student, who had sued after being separated from the school’s all-male swim team and its locker room.

Critics of transgender policies allowing people to use opposite sex bathrooms and locker rooms argue that these policies cause emotional distress and harm to non-transgender students and their parents who wish to keep facilities separate. Many of the instances involving transgender policies involving biological females and their parents concerned about measures that allow biological males to be in their locker rooms and bathrooms. However, Eckert says there are cases beyond this one in Minnesota that involve females wanting to be in male facilities.

—-

Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.

Rating: 1.6/5. From 23 votes.
Please wait...