A federal appeals court in Florida has ruled in favor of a local school district, upholding its policy of preventing transgender students from using bathrooms of their choice.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its 7–4 decision (pdf) on Dec. 30, saying that the St. Johns County School Board did not violate the U.S. Constitution or Title IX, when barring transgender student Drew Adams from using boys’ bathrooms.
Judge Barbara Lagoa, who wrote for the majority, said that the school board’s bathroom policy “advances the important governmental objective of protecting students’ privacy in school bathrooms.”
“A policy can lawfully classify on the basis of biological sex without unlawfully discriminating on the basis of transgender status,” Lagoa added….