The first-of-its-kind decision asks the school district to change its policies. Feds rule in transgender student case

The U.S. Justice and Education departments said Wednesday that a transgender California student who is anatomically female but lives life as a male must be able to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities designed for boys.

The first-of-its-kind decision from the agencies tasks the Arcadia school district outside Los Angeles to change district policies and practices to accommodate the rising ninth-grade student. Teachers and staff must be trained in how to prevent gender discrimination, and federal agencies will be keeping tabs on the district through at least 2016.


The Arcadia school district also agreed to keep the student’s birth name and any records that indicate his natural sex confidential.

The student, whose identity has also been kept out of documents associated with his case, would have the right to request a private locker room and other facilities for the sake of privacy or safety. He must also be allowed to participate in any school activities on and off campus that are intended for boys.

The Education and Justice departments have forced districts to change policies and practices to better protect students who are transgender, including in Minnesota and elsewhere in California. But those protections, primarily intended to prevent bullying and harassment, have been part of agreements to protect all students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

Wednesday’s resolution is the latest in a series of actions by the Obama administration sending a message to schools about the treatment of LGBT students. The White House has hosted bullying summits on the issue. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has sent districts a letter reminding them of their responsibilities to protect students against discrimination based on gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation. And the Education Department has affirmed the right of students to form gay-straight clubs that have the same privileges as other clubs and school groups.

The 10,000-student school district did not immediately return a phone message.

While the agreement is only between the district and federal agencies, it sets a precedent, said Asaf Orr, a staff attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which filed the complaint on behalf of the Arcadia student.

“This sends a clear message to school districts around the country saying ‘This is what the federal government is going to be expecting of you,’” Orr said.

How schools should treat transgender students has been in the spotlight in recent months. In June, a civil rights agency in Colorado found that the Fountain-Fort Carson School District must treat 6-year-old Coy Mathis, born a boy but who identifies as a girl, as a female. Some states, including Massachusetts, already have guidelines for how to best accommodate transgender students.

The Arcadia student, born female, identified as a boy from a young age, the federal complaint says. At about 5 years old, he told his parents that he prayed to God asking to be put in the male body that he was supposed to have. He began transitioning from female to male as a fifth grader.

The student and his family filed their complaint after a series of issues with the district.

Orr said while the district was quick to address any bullying or harassment of the student by peers, the student was stigmatized . At school, the student was required to use the school nurse’s bathroom instead of school lavatories and locker rooms, Wednesday’s letter to the district says. Sometimes, he found the door locked and had to search for a school employee to open the door. And getting to and from the bathroom required a trip across campus, prompting questions from classmates about what was taking him so long. At times, the student avoided using the bathroom at school all day.

And on a trip the student took as a seventh grader that the district billed as a big step for students — an overnight trip without their parents — he was required to sleep in a cabin away from other students and had to be chaperoned by his father.

“I know that he and his family feel at ease now, going into high school with all this in place,” Orr said. “He can focus on being a kid and learning.”