ATLANTA — The latest flashpoint in the battle for transgender rights took place in an Atlanta courtroom on Thursday, where a former Florida high school student who was denied access to the bathroom that matched his gender identity took his argument before a panel of federal judges.
Drew Adams won a suit against his former school district last August in federal court in Virginia (he's since graduated). The district appealed, and on Thursday the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta heard arguments in the case.
After the proceedings, Adams told 11Alive's Joe Henke he'd never had a problem with anyone about which bathroom he used before his school district made an issue out of it.
"Most people when they use the bathroom don't look twice at whoever's in there with them," he said. "So this really wasn't an issue before the school board made it an issue."
In court, Henke reports that the district's attorney Jeffrey Slanker argued that it was a privacy case and saying students have the right to privacy from the opposite sex in the rest room. During the trial, the district's legal counsel argued Adams isn't a boy.
Adams' attorney Tara Borelli countered that it was a discrimination case. During the case's trial, Adams' legal counsel detailed his transition from female to male during high school and presented his Florida driver's license and birth certificate - all of which identify him as a male.
"I have never had an issue in a bathroom ever," Adams said after. "Even at my high school nobody looked at me twice in the restroom that I noticed, nobody told me that they had an issue with me, nobody indicated that there was a problem whatsoever."
Adams' case will have wide-ranging implications - the ruling of the 11th Circuit Court will set a precedent on transgender bathroom issues for Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
In October, Pickens County Public Schools proposed a new policy for the 2019-20 school year to allow students to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.
They reversed that decision after an outcry from some parents and what they said were "many serious safety concerns," including threats.
"School board members, staff, and students have been threatened due to the administration's implementation of Adams vs. St John's County School District," Pickens County Public Schools said at the time. "There have been death threats, student harassment, and vandalism of school property."
Pickens is among the school districts now closely watching for the 11th Circuit's ruling.
In court, Judge William Pryor Jr. said the judges are aware of the impact any opinion they write will have, and "have to be concerned how this effects the next case."
"We think a clear statement that the law requires that transgender students be treated equally would be helpful and valuable guidance for schools looking to the 11th Circuit for information of how to treat their students," Adams' lawyer, Borelli, said.
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