School district targets trans student victory, asks Supreme Court to review

August 25, 2017 - This morning, the Kenosha Unified School District filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States in Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District, a lawsuit challenging KUSD's discriminatory treatment of Ash Whitaker, a transgender boy. The petition asks the Court to review the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals' recent ruling, which affirmed a preliminary injunction permitting Ash to use boys' restrooms at school during his senior year of high school. The case, which also alleges that KUSD singled out Ash for discriminatory treatment in other ways, is currently moving forward in the federal district court in Milwaukee.

Whitaker's lawyers at Transgender Law Center and Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC issued the following statement:

"Both the federal district court and the appeals court have unambiguously ruled that KUSD violated Ash's rights and subjected him to unnecessary harm. We're disappointed that KUSD, instead of accepting these rulings, has chosen to waste time and money by filing an ill-conceived petition for review with the Supreme Court. The unanimous decision from the Seventh Circuit was correct and consistent with the decisions of other courts, which similarly have held that transgender students have the right to equal educational opportunities. It is troubling that KUSD would go to such lengths to defend its discriminatory and harmful actions against Ash, a high school student who just wanted to be treated like any other boy, especially now that he has graduated and started college. We are confident that KUSD's wrongheaded and legally incorrect position will continue to be rejected, as it has been at every stage of this case so far."

Read this statement online: https://transgenderlawcenter.org/archives/14003.

Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization dedicated to advancing justice for transgender and gender nonconforming people through litigation, policy advocacy, and public education. Transgender Law Center envisions a future in which all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. www.transgenderlawcenter.org