Court to consider bathroom use by transgender student

by: JEFF AMY Associated Press

Posted: Dec 5, 2019 / 07:01 AM CST / Updated: Dec 5, 2019 / 07:01 AM CST

FILE – In a Monday, Dec. 11, 2017 file photo, transgender teen Drew Adams, left, leaves the U. S. Courthouse with his mother Erica Adams Kasper after the first day of his trial about bathroom rights at Nease High School, in Jacksonville, Fla. The transgender student’s fight over school bathrooms comes before a federal appeals court Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, setting the stage for a groundbreaking ruling. Drew Adams, who has since graduated from Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, won a lower court ruling in 2018 ordering the St. Johns County school district to allow him to use the boys’ restroom. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP, File)

(AP) — A transgender student’s fight over school bathrooms comes before a federal appeals court Thursday, setting the stage for a groundbreaking ruling.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will hear arguments about whether a Florida school district should be ordered to let students use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

Drew Adams won a lower court ruling last year ordering the St. Johns County school district to let him use the boys’ restroom. The district has appealed.

School officials argue they’re protecting other students and shouldn’t be forced to let students use the restroom of the gender they identify with.