BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — A finding of $4.2 million that jurors said a Missouri school district should pay a transgender student is being looked at again.
On Tuesday, the Western District Missouri Court of Appeals said that a judge made a mistake when she asked for a new hearing in a case about who could use the bathrooms and locker rooms. The case against the Blue Springs School District will now go back to the trial court to see if the amount of money that jurors gave in 2021 was fair.
The unanimous ruling from the appeals court was written by Judge Anthony Rex Gabbert. He said that the district discriminated against the student because he didn’t fit their idea of what a man should be like.
“This is the same as treating a man badly because he isn’t tall enough or strong enough,” Gabbert wrote.
In a statement, the school district said it was upset about the change and is thinking about what legal options it has. It said it couldn’t say anything else because the case is still going on.
The student, whose name was given in court papers as R.M.A., officially changed his name in 2010. His birth certificate was then changed to reflect his new name and gender in 2014, according to the lawsuit that was filed the following year.
The lawsuit said that even though the state knew he was a boy, the school wouldn’t let him use the boys’ locker rooms and restrooms at Delta Woods Middle School and the Freshman Center.
The student took part in middle school sports and physical education for boys, but court papers say he had to use a bathroom outside of the boys’ locker room that was only for one person. Due to not being able to use the boys’ changing room or bathrooms, he did not play any fall sports at the Freshman Center.
In 2019, the Missouri Supreme Court said that the state’s human rights rules against sex discrimination could cover people who don’t fit gender stereotypes. At the time, this was seen as a big step forward for transgender rights.
In their case against the Platte County School District, the ACLU brought up similar points.
