UPDATED Feb. 20, 2018: ACLU files motion to dismiss lawsuit challenging Dallas schools' transgender policy

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Transgender students and LGBTQ supporters on Thursday railed against a lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, they say is troubling and harmful.

The lawsuit challenges a decision by the Dallas School District to allow Elliot Yoder to use boys' facilities. Herb Grey, an attorney for the parents of three current and former Dallas students, said the district's policy to allow Yoder into such private spaces violated the civil rights of the majority of the students who do not identify as transgender.

Boys using the locker room and bathroom feel embarrassed and ashamed to have to disrobe in the presence of another student who was biologically female, he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and Basic Rights Oregon were among those who opposed the suit at a downtown Portland news conference Thursday. The ACLU said it would likely intervene in the case as it did in Illinois, where a similar civil action didn't survive a legal challenge.

"The lawsuit brought in Dallas, Oregon, challenging policies that affirm the legal rights of transgender students is meritless and extremely harmful," ACLU of Oregon legal director Mat dos Santos said. "It also closely mirrors failed litigation brought in other states, which were rejected by the courts."

The suit "targets transgender youth for simply existing and seeking an education," he said, and bashes "rescinded Obama-era guidelines detailing the meaning of Title IX's prohibition of sex discrimination," although the Trump administration rolled back the Obama-era directive on transgender inclusion earlier this year.

Despite those changes, the lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

It also names the Oregon Department of Education and Gov. Kate Brown because of guidelines issued by the state last year outlining what districts should do to accommodate transgender students. The guidelines are not the law but are based on numerous court opinions on transgender rights that have interpreted Title IX protections as extending to transgender students.

The state guidelines aim to create a safe, supportive school setting for transgender students. They outline terminology and recommended nondiscriminatory practices and provide advice about student identities, names and pronouns and, among other things. They also outline issues of restroom and locker room use, sports and physical education and student safety.

Restroom and locker room use is a particularly divisive topic across the country.

Yoder, now 16, was among those who spoke during the news conference. He said the lawsuit "really scares" him. It tries to create an "unsafe environment for transgender students," he said.

"And there's really no reason for it," Yoder said. "Because when a transgender student is using the facilities that matches their gender identity, the only person's privacy that is being interrupted is their own because of everyone else's concerns about it."

A freshman Portland Public Schools student who identifies as transgender and introduced herself only as Jade also expressed concern about the suit.

"This lawsuit is deeply troubling," she said. "Not just because it challenges my equality but because it sends a message to transgender people everywhere that we are not accepted, that we're not welcome, not OK."

She said that "having the safety to be who I am is a critical part of my well-being."

— Staff and wire reports