Drew Adams, a trans man, made the decision 3 years ago to sue his highschool over bathroom access.
A federal court has now ruled in Drew's favour in the first US trial involving a transgender student's access to bathrooms. The ruling applies to Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
The issue arose when Drew was pulled out of class and brought into the principal’s office. "I sat with three other counsellors standing over me. They told me I wasn't allowed to use the men's bathroom," he told BBC News, “I felt very small, nervous and terrified.”
The school’s counsellors told him that was the rule, and that he was only allowed to use the gender-neutral cubicles, despite there being only one in the entire school. Both Drew and his mom were incredibly upset with the school’s decision, and after various meetings, emails and calls, the school wasn’t giving them the response they needed. This led to Drew’s mom Erica filing a civil rights complaint against the school, subsequently causing an investigation.
After the 2016 presidential election, Drew stopped hearing back from them. He said, "We got tired of waiting so we reached out to Lambda Legal - an organisation that fights for LGBTQ rights - and filed a lawsuit against my school in 2017."
The judge found Drew was singled out for different treatment due to being trans- and said public schools cannot "harm transgender students by establishing arbitrary, separate rules for their restroom use.”
"I hope we've now moved past the need to have courts saying trans people should be respected and treated normally,” he said, after winning the “exhausting” lawsuit.
Written by Daniela Matos
Artwork by Aurora Brooks
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