A Washington D.C.-based left-wing advocacy group called the Human Rights Campaign Foundation is behind a lawsuit against the Williamson County Board of Education challenging a state law that restricts students from using multi-person restrooms that do not match their sex.
The plaintiff, a transgender minor, is represented by two attorneys with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, a nonprofit organization under the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). HRC describes itself as “the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization” on its website with local groups in most states.
The HRC Foundation focuses on litigation and advocacy in instances it believes constitute discrimination against people who identify as LGBTQ.
“We are particularly interested in learning about discrimination in schools as well as discrimination in attempting to obtain health care, housing, or shelter because of an individual’s LGBTQ+ identity,” according to the HRC Foundation’s website. The group takes cases intending to make “systemic, structural, and institutional changes.”
The plaintiff in the suit, identified as D.H. in the original complaint, is a nine-year-old boy who identifies as a girl attending an elementary school in Williamson County. The plaintiff’s original complaint claims the school administration was prevented from giving D.H. “the support she needed to complete her social transition” by allowing him to use the girls’ restroom.
D.H. told his parents he believed he was “supposed to be a girl” when he was six, according to the complaint. In response, her parents began using “she/her” pronouns to refer to D.H.
The complaint cited the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act passed in 2021, which guards against children of different sexes having to use the same restroom.
“Unless enjoined, the [Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act] will continue to perpetuate discrimination against, and stigmatization of, transgender children, like D.H., and negatively impact the already poorer mental health outcomes experienced by transgender youth as a result of such treatment,” the complaint said. “D.H. therefore seeks declaratory and injunctive relief from this Court to allow her to use the girls’ restroom in accordance with her gender identity.”
Additionally, Tennessee state law’s definition of sex, which says sex is “determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth,” is too narrow, the complaint said.
U.S. District Court Judge William Campbell, who presides over the case, granted the defendants dismissals of almost all of the plaintiff’s claims, including violation of Title IX, that the school should change D.H.’s records to say he is a girl, and the claims against Golden, The Tennessee Lookout reported. However, the judge denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claim of violating the Equal Protection Clause.
The Equal Protection Clause is a clause in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that says a state shall not “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws.”
The HRC Foundation challenged this law once before in another suit against the Wilson County Board of Education.
– – –
Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
Photo “Bathroom Signs” by pxfuel.
Nothing like overpaid and hyped up lawyers trying to force mental health problems onto normal citizens.
HRC: They find patsies to use to sue people. What minor would be suing on their own? Total BS.
Neither sex would feel comfortable with this person using their restroom because of their decision. Let him use the teachers lounge.