Adams v. Sch. Bd. of St. Johns Cnty.
Decision Date | 26 July 2018 |
Docket Number | Case No. 3:17-cv-739-J-32JBT |
Citation | 318 F.Supp.3d 1293 |
Parties | Drew ADAMS, a minor, BY AND THROUGH his next friend and mother, Erica Adams KASPER, Plaintiff, v. The SCHOOL BOARD OF ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FLORIDA, Defendant. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida |
318 F.Supp.3d 1293
Drew ADAMS, a minor, BY AND THROUGH his next friend and mother, Erica Adams KASPER, Plaintiff,
v.
The SCHOOL BOARD OF ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FLORIDA, Defendant.
Case No. 3:17-cv-739-J-32JBT
United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Jacksonville Division.
Signed July 26, 2018
Aryeh L. Kaplan, Jennifer G. Altman, Markenzy Lapointe, Shani Rivaux, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Miami, FL, Kirsten L. Doolittle, Law Office of Kirsten Doolittle, PA, Jacksonville, FL, Natalie Nardecchia, Pro Hac Vice, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, Nathaniel R. Smith, Pro Hac Vice, Richard M. Segal, Pro Hac Vice, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, San Diego, CA, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Pro Hac Vice, Lambda Legal Defense, New York, NY, Paul David Castillo, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., Dallas, TX, Tara L. Borelli, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., Atlanta, GA, William C. Miller, Pro Hac Vice, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.
Kevin Charles Kostelnik, Michael P. Spellman, Robert Jacob Sniffen, Terry Joseph Harmon, Lisa Barclay Fountain, Sniffen & Spellman, PA, Tallahassee, FL, Robert Christopher Barden, Pro Hac Vice, RC Barden & Associates, Plymouth, MN, for Defendant.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
TIMOTHY J. CORRIGAN, United States District Judge
The parents of St. Johns County, along with teachers and administrators of the St. Johns County School District, have a solemn obligation to guard the well-being of the children in their charge. As recent events from around the country have tragically demonstrated, this is a very challenging job. Recognizing the difficulty of this task and that local school boards, answerable to the citizens of their community, are best situated to set school policy, federal courts are reluctant to interfere. Nevertheless, the federal court also has a solemn obligation: to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States. That is why federal courts around the country have recognized the right of transgender students to use the bathroom matching their gender identity.
Drew Adams is a rising senior at Allen D. Nease High School. He is transgender, meaning he "consistently, persistently, and insistently" identifies as a boy, a gender that is different than the sex he was assigned at birth (female).1 At trial, Adams testified: "I am a boy and I know that with every fiber of my being."2 However, when the principal of Nease was asked whether she considered Adams to be a boy, she replied, "I do not."3 That's what this case is about. Everyone agrees that boys should use the boys' restroom at Nease and that girls should use the girls' restroom. The parties disagree over whether Drew Adams is a boy.
I can only answer that question with the evidence given to me at trial. Drew Adams says he is a boy and has undergone extensive surgery to conform his body to his gender identity; medical science says he is a boy; the State of Florida says so (both Adams' Florida birth certificate and Florida driver's license say he is a male); and the Florida High School Athletic Association says so. Other than at his school, Adams uses the mens' bathroom wherever he goes, including in this federal courthouse during trial. Even the St. Johns County School Board regards Adams as a
boy in every way, except for which bathroom he can use.
When confronted with something affecting our children that is new, outside of our experience, and contrary to gender norms we thought we understood, it is natural that parents want to protect their children. But the evidence is that Drew Adams poses no threat to the privacy or safety of any of his fellow students. Rather, Drew Adams is just like every other student at Nease High School, a teenager coming of age in a complicated, uncertain and changing world. When it comes to his use of the bathroom, the law requires that he be treated like any other boy.
The Court recognizes that some will disagree with this decision, for religious and other reasons. I respect their point of view. However, as a judge, my job is to determine what the law requires and apply it faithfully to the facts. I have done that to the best of my ability.
I. Procedural History
Through his next friend and mother, plaintiff Drew Adams, a minor,4 filed suit in June 2017 (when he was a rising junior at Nease) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the School District violated his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 2, and Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681, by refusing to let him use the boys' bathroom at school. See Doc. 1 (and as amended, Doc. 60). Soon thereafter, he filed a motion for preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin the School Board (the School District's governing body) from continuing its policy during the pendency of the case. Although the Court denied his motion, it set an expedited schedule so the matter could quickly be brought to trial.5 See Docs. 50, 57 (Order and hearing transcript). The Court held a three day non-jury trial on December 11, 12, and 13, 2017, hearing testimony from ten witnesses6 and admitting numerous exhibits.7 Two witnesses were unable to appear live and the Court agreed to accept their videotaped deposition testimony and a declaration from one.8 The parties also stipulated
to certain facts that are deemed admitted.9 A month after the trial (and while school was out of session), the undersigned toured Nease High School with the school principal and counsel for both sides, visiting every restroom on campus. Thereafter, the parties submitted proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law and supplemental briefs addressing the School Board's bathroom policy. See Docs. 172, 173-1,10 174, 175. The Court heard closing arguments on February 16, 2018. Doc. 184. While the Court has adopted portions of each party's submission, the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law are its own. Several pending motions were carried with the case, and those rulings are incorporated herein.
II. Findings of Fact11
A. Defining Transgender/Gender Identity/Sex Assigned at Birth
As explained by Dr. Diane Ehrensaft, a developmental and clinical psychologist who studies and specializes in treating transgender children and adolescents, there are a number of components that determine a person's gender: external genitalia, internal sex organs, chromosomal sex, gonadal sex, fetal hormonal sex, hypothalamic sex, pubertal hormonal sex, neurological sex, and gender identity and role. Doc. 166, Ct. Ex. 3 at ¶ 20.12 Among these markers, external genitalia, the most physically obvious one, has historically been used to determine gender for purposes of recording a birth as male or female. Id. at ¶ 19. In most people, all the markers, including external genitalia, lead to a singular conclusion that an individual is either a male or a female. Doc. 166, Ct. Ex. 3 at ¶ 19. Sometimes, though, they are not congruent, with some indicators suggesting the individual is female, and others male.13 Id. at ¶ 20. In this situation, neurological sex and related gender identity are the most important and determinative factors. Id.
The Medical Amici14 explain that
" ‘[g]ender identity’ refers to a person's internal sense of being male, female, or another gender." Doc. 119, Ex. A at 6. A transgender individual is someone who " ‘consistently, persistently, and insistently’ identifies as a gender different than the sex they were assigned at birth."Id. at 7. A 2016 publication estimated that 1.4 million transgender adults are living in the United States, 0.6 percent of the adult population. Id. at 4. "Gender identity is distinct from and does not predict sexual orientation; transgender people, like cisgender [non-transgender] people, may identify as heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or asexual." Id. at 4-5.
"[M]any transgender individuals are diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition that is characterized by debilitating distress and anxiety resulting from the incongruence between an individual's gender identity and birth-assigned sex." Id. at 7. Gender dysphoria is recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Id. at 8. According to the Medical Amici, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health ("WPATH") has established the accepted standard of care for transgender persons suffering from gender dysphoria, and it "includes assessment, counseling, and, as appropriate, social transition, puberty-blocking drug treatment, hormone therapy, and surgical interventions to bring the body into alignment with one's gender identity." Id. at 10-11.
Social transition "typically includes publicly identifying oneself as that gender; adopting a new name; using different pronouns; grooming and dressing in a manner typically associated with one's gender identity" (Id. at 11); changing sports teams to be consistent with one's gender identity (Doc. 166, Ct. Ex. 2 at Tr. 23); "and using restrooms and other...
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