The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that it is a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the Minnesota Constitution for school districts to segregate transgender students from their peers in locker room facilities. The decision was in favor of a trans student identified as NH, who was forced to use a segregated locker room after he joined the boys’ swim team.
Oregon law (Chapter 659) also prohibits discrimination in schools. This includes discrimination based on sexual orientation, which includes an “individual’s gender identity, appearance, expression or behavior.” While not exactly the same issue ruled upon in Minnesota, an Oregon judge ruled in 2016 that transgender students in Oregon must be able to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. Courts in other states have reached similar holdings. Collectively, these cases send a message to schools that transgender students are a part of every school community.
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