Pennsylvania student who objected to sharing locker room with transgender student sues school

A high school student in Pennsylvania says in a lawsuit that his “bodily privacy” was violated when he saw a transgender student undressing in the locker room as he also was changing.

Philly.com reports that two conservative faith-based organizations, Alliance Defending Freedom and Independence Law Center, filed the lawsuit against the Boyertown Area School District on behalf of the student and his family

The suit contends that the school district did not notify parents or students that it was allowing transgender students at Boyertown Area High School to use restrooms and locker rooms matching their chosen gender identity.

The lawsuit states that in October 2016, the student, dubbed "Joel Doe" in the filing, began changing in the school locker room for PE class, "and when he was standing in his underwear about to put his gym clothes on, he suddenly realized there was a member of the opposite sex changing with him in the locker room, who was at the time wearing nothing but shorts and a bra."

Joel Doe complained to school officials, and they informed him that students who “subjectively identify themselves as the opposite sex” can choose which locker room they use. When Joel Doe asked school officials to protect his privacy, he was told he must “tolerate” it and make changing with students of the opposite sex as “natural” as can be, the suit alleges.

“No school should rob any student of his legally protected personal privacy,” Independence Law Center Chief Counsel Randall Wenger says in a news release. “We trust that our children won’t be forced into emotionally vulnerable situations like this when they are in the care of our schools because it’s a school’s duty to protect and respect the bodily privacy and dignity of all students."