Supreme Court declines Indiana school's appeal on transgender bathroom order

 The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an Indiana public school district's request to defend a policy that restricted bathroom access for sex.

The justices declined to hear an appeal by the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville after a lower court ruled that a middle school policy barring transgender students from using facilities such as bathrooms or locker rooms consistent with their self-declared gender identity. and violates the constitutional rights of the students. Violation of federal anti-discrimination law.

Lawyers for the school district had asked the court to "protect school boards' autonomy to make decisions." ,

A 2023 ruling by the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said court papers identified "A.C." Students who identify as transgender are protected under a law called Title IX that prohibits gender discrimination in education and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution requires that people be equally protected under the law.

The Supreme Court did not issue any comment on its decision. The high court has deferred most controversial cases involving transgender rights in recent years.

Republicans in many states have pursued various laws affecting transgender people, including policies that limit bathroom and locker room separation by gender, participation in school sports, access to gender-reassignment medical procedures for minors, and This includes restrictions on what is taught in schools about sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Indiana case involved a 13-year-old gender-biased student whose mother sued the school district and middle school principal after their child was banned from using boys' facilities.

In 2022, US District Judge Tanya Pratt ordered A.C. Ruling in favor of, and ordering the school to allow access to bathrooms consistent with the student's gender identity. The 7th Circuit affirmed Pratt's decision, forcing the school to appeal to the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.

The school district argued in a court filing that Title IX allows schools to segregate bathrooms by sex and that the Equal Protection Clause does not prevent schools from protecting the interests of students "by exposing their bodies to the opposite sex." To protect from contact with."

Lower courts have issued mixed decisions on school policies affecting transgender students. Last month, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a school that required transgender students to use gender-neutral bathrooms or bathrooms that match their gender, not their gender identity.

Two other federal appeals courts have ruled that transgender students can use the bathroom consistent with their identity.

These cases have put pressure on the Supreme Court to correct the inconsistencies, but so far the Court has refused several opportunities to do so.

In 2021, the Supreme Court upheld a Fourth Circuit decision that sided with a transgender student who sued to use the bathroom associated with her identity.

More recently, the Supreme Court refused to allow West Virginia to enforce a state law in April 2023 that bans transgender athletes born male from participating in women's sports in public schools Was.