Parents Suing School District After Girls Told to 'Tolerate' Alleged 'Threatening' Encounter with Exposed Male in Bathroom
Four high school girls under the age of 18 have, through their guardians, sued a Michigan school district, its superintendent and assistant superintendent, and their high school principal and vice-principal for forcing the girls to accept the presence of biological males in facilities — like restrooms and locker rooms — designed for use by female students.
“This case is about the intentional violation of children’s fundamental right to bodily privacy contrary to constitutional and statutory principles, including the Fourteenth Amendment,” the lawsuit reads.
Vicksburg High School has “secretly” allowed boys into these areas without informing the students at the school or their parents, the lawsuit claims.
When the girls complained to school administrators that a boy had exposed himself in the girl’s bathroom, they were told “it’s fine” and that “the law was settled,” according to the suit.
“Defendants told Plaintiffs they needed to ‘tolerate it’ and make it as ‘natural’ as they possibly could,” the suit reads. [A tacit admission, if true, that the situation is indeed unnatural. — Ed. note]
“Defendants told Plaintiffs that they should try not to embarrass the biological male student,” the girls claim in the suit. “Instead, they should ‘look away’ and not ‘bully’ the biological male,” it says.
The suit argues that other female students besides the four represented by their parents in the legal action have been “fearful” of the presence of boys in their restrooms. Some have chosen to “hold their urine the entire day” rather than risk going to the restroom at school — and obvious potential health risk over time.
“Many female students are using the bathroom only one time a day out of fear and anxiety that a male student could be using the bathroom with them,” one mother, identified only as “Heather,” told WWMT.
“On one occasion, the biological male using the girls’ restroom stared down one of the Plaintiffs in a threatening manner, as if Plaintiff was the one in the wrong restroom, causing Plaintiff to fear for her safety,” the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Matthew DePerno, told the outlet that school officials had not informed students or parents of the change in policy.
“The principal told them there is nothing they can do about it,” DePerno said. “The issue was settled and told the students to make the best of the situation.”
“The biological males who want to use the girls’ restrooms, in other school districts they are denied that and provided with a unisex bathroom to use,” he argued.
The local school board president hinted at a meeting last month that he was less than satisfied with the policy himself.
“I am not going to sit here and make a statement on whether we agree or disagree,” School Board President Virgil Knowles told concerned parents at an August 14 meeting. “Current binding case law in Michigan requires public schools to allow all students, including transgender students, to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identification.”
“You need to take it up with your state legislators,” he said. “We need to have some action at the state level, we are kind of caught in the middle of it all.”
You can read the lawsuit in its entirety here:
Jane Doe vs Vicksburg Schools Filing by The Western Journal on Scribd
The families are seeking admissions from the defendants that their actions were illegal, an end to the policy that allows boys to use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms, court and attorney costs, and “compensatory damages for the violation of Plaintiffs’ constitutional and statutory rights in an amount of greater than $30,000.”
The suit was filed August 25, and no court date has apparently yet been set.
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