DCG posted: " Daily Mail: School officials violated state
anti-discrimination law when they would not allow a transgender
fifth-grader to use the girls' bathroom, Maine's highest court has ruled.
The family of student Nicole Maines and the Maine Human Rights Co" Respond
to this post by replying above this line
New post on *Fellowship of the Minds*
<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/dcgere/> Ban on transgender fifth
grader using girls’ bathroom, violated human rights court
rules<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2014/02/02/ban-on-transgender-fifth-grader-using-girls-bathroom-violated-human-rights-court-rules/>
by
DCG <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/dcgere/>
[image: maines]<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/maines.jpg>
Daily
Mail<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2549593/Transgender-fifth-grader-Nicole-Maines-rights-violated-not-allowed-use-girls-bathroom-Maines-supreme-court-rules.html>:
School officials violated state anti-discrimination law when they *would
not allow a transgender fifth-grader to use the girls' bathroom*, Maine's
highest court has ruled.
The family of student Nicole Maines and the Maine Human Rights Commission
sued in 2009 *after school officials required her to use a staff, not
student, restroom*.
‘This is a momentous decision that marks a huge breakthrough for
transgender young people,’ said Jennifer Levi, director of the Boston-based
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders' Transgender Rights Project after the
Maine Supreme Judicial Court's ruling on Thursday.
The court concluded that the Orono School District's actions violated the
Maine Human Rights Act, *which bans discrimination based on sexual
orientation or gender identity*, overturning a lower court's ruling that
the district acted within its discretion.
The ruling represented the first time a state high court concluded that *a
transgender person should use the bathroom of the gender with which they
identify*, according to GLAD. Federal courts haven't taken up the issue.
Students at the southern Maine High School Nicole now attends stood up and
cheered when news of the ruling was announced, said her father, Wayne
Maines.
School administrators across the country are grappling with the issue.
Colorado officials said last year that *a suburban Colorado Springs school
district discriminated against a 6-year-old transgender girl by preventing
her from using the girls' bathroom*.
[image:
maines2]<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/maines2.jpg>
In California, *there is an effort afoot to try to repeal a law that allows
public school students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond
with their expressed genders*.
In the Maine case, *Nicole Maines was using the girls' bathroom in her
elementary school until the grandfather of a fifth-grade boy complained to
administrators.* *The Orono School District determined that she should use
a staff bathroom, but her parents said that amounted to discrimination.*
*Nicole is a biological male who identified as a girl beginning at age two.*
Nicole, who is now 16, said after arguments before the high court last
summer that she hoped the justices understood the importance of going to
school, getting an education and making friends without having to be
‘bullied’ by other students - or school administrators.
Nicole's father said all he had ever wanted was for his daughter to be
treated just like her classmates. He said he was overcome with emotion when
he learned of the decision.
‘It sends a message to my kids that you can believe in the system and that
it can work,’ Wayne Maines said. ‘I'm just going to hug my kids and enjoy
the moment, and do some healing.’
Melissa Hewey, lawyer for the school district, said the ruling provided
clarity not just to Orono, but to schools around the state.
‘The court has now clarified what has been a difficult issue and is a more
and more common in schools, and the Orono School Department is going to do
what it needs to do to comply with the law,’ she said.
In the 5-1 ruling, the court had to reconcile two separate state laws, *one
requiring separate bathrooms based on gender and the other prohibiting
discrimination based on sexual orientation*.
In this case, where there the child had a formal diagnosis of gender
dysphoria, *‘it has been clearly established that a student's psychological
well-being and educational success depend upon being permitted to use the
communal bathroom consistent with her gender identity,’* Justice Warren
Silver wrote.
The Supreme Judicial Court pointed out that its ruling was based on the
circumstances of the case in which there was ample documentation of the
student's gender identity. ‘Our opinion must not be read to require schools
to permit students casual access to any bathroom of their choice,’ he wrote.
Reason *∞* to home school.
DCG
*DCG <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/author/dcgere/>* | February 2, 2014
at 3:45 am | Categories:
Children<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=34928689>,
Education <http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/?cat=15005908> | URL:
http://wp.me/pKuKY-pcg
Comment<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2014/02/02/ban-on-transgender-fifth-grader-using-girls-bathroom-violated-human-rights-court-rules/#respond>
See all
comments<http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2014/02/02/ban-on-transgender-fifth-grader-using-girls-bathroom-violated-human-rights-court-rules/#comments>
Unsubscribe<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=7f89380f46003915c34c2cdd2b126a38&email=bovinescatologists%40gmail.com&b=LcP6pRH%2B7jONH2rOcw_Js94YY.%5BU%5BysQVnvChpM.2zZi%3D%5Dn%7Cr7i>to
no longer receive posts from Fellowship of the Minds.
Change your email settings at Manage
Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=7f89380f46003915c34c2cdd2b126a38&email=bovinescatologists%40gmail.com>.
*Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2014/02/02/ban-on-transgender-fifth-grader-using-girls-bathroom-violated-human-rights-court-rules/
Thanks for flying with WordPress.com <http://wordpress.com>
--
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"PoliticalForum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
