Case 3:17-cv-00739-TJC-JBT Document 192 Filed 07/26/18 Page 39 of 70 PageID 10717
unchallenged.” Sessions v. Morales-Santana, 137 S. Ct. 1678, 2690 (2017) (internal quotation and alterations omitted, emphasis in original) (citation omitted). The School Board contends its bathroom policy is substantially related to its important interests in student privacy and student safety, both of which fall within its statutory responsibility for student welfare.
- 1. Privacy
The School Board claims that its long-standing policy of having separate boys’ and girls’ bathrooms has created an expectation of privacy for students and parents who do not expect students of the opposite sex to share the bathroom space. Doc. 162 at Tr. 67. The Court agrees that the School Board has a legitimate interest in protecting student privacy, which extends to bathrooms. But allowing transgender students to use the restrooms that match their gender identity does not affect the privacy protections already in place. When he goes into a restroom, Adams enters a stall, closes the door, relieves himself, comes out of the stall, washes his hands, and leaves. Adams has encountered no problems using men’s restrooms in public places, and there were no reports of problems from any boys or boys’ parents during the six weeks of his freshman year when Adams used the boys’ restrooms at Nease. Nor was there any evidence that any school official associated with the St. Johns County School District, including members of its LGBTQ task force, had ever heard of any incident anywhere where a transgender student using a restroom acted in a
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