Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit in favor of three transgender Oklahoma schoolchildren, arguing that someone using the bathroom of a gender they do not identify with is unconstitutional.  

Oklahoma’s new law prohibits students from using the bathroom assigned to the gender with which they identify, if different from their gender assigned at birth. The law was quickly signed and passed through legislature after Stillwater Public Schools refused to change a policy allowing students to use the bathroom of their preferred gender. The new law has brought an uprising in civil rights groups and with students who do not agree.

One of the students suing, Andy Bridge, 16, explains the harm the law has caused. “I am a boy, and while living authentically hasn’t always been easy, it’s given me a sense of relief and happiness. Being able to use the boys’ restroom might seem like a small thing to others, but it is a vital step in my transition,” Bridge said. “Being barred from using it leaves me singled out and excluded from the rest of my friends and classmates, but also feeling like I’m being told that I’m not worthy of the same respect and dignity as everyone else.”

While looking at certain aspects of schools and how their bathroom systems students question the need for the bill.

“It is surprising that they can’t come up with a different alternative than banning trans people from using their preferred bathroom,” Reiter said. “All people should feel comfortable in schools to use the bathroom and be who they want to be.”

The bill also requires the State Department of Education to penalize schools that refuse to follow the new law with a 5 percent reduction in state funding. Oklahoma is among a dozen conservative states that have passed laws this year targeting the transgender community over bathroom use, participation in school sports, and gender-affirming treatments or surgery for young people.

“I have a lot of friends who are transgender, and I can see how this would be a problem,” junior Amani Clark states. “I am not transgender myself, but I know that everyone deserves to feel comfortable.”

North Carolina remains the only state to pass and now repeal legislation restricting access to multiuser restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-segregated facilities on the basis of a definition of sex or gender consistent with sex assigned at birth or “biological sex.”

Reiter agrees with North Carolina’s decision to repeal legislation. She said “I think kids would be negatively impacted and wouldn’t feel safe. It could also be a gateway to harassment,” if kids were forced to use a bathroom they do not identify with.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, and the Lambda Legal group. These groups focused on protecting the rights of LGBTQ people, by arguing that the new law discriminates against transgender students in violation of both the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Title IX civil rights law enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. The amendment prohibits a governmental body from denying people equal protection of its governing laws and prohibit sex discrimination in any education program receiving federal financial assistance is against the law.

When considering how transgender people and anyone of that community feel about people sticking up for them junior Delaney Atwell feels that “I feel like transgender people really appreciate the support and it is motivation for them to not give up and to keep fighting for their rights.”