ADF: 7th Circuit should uphold policy to protect privacy, dignity of every student

WHO: ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb

WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District

WHEN: Wednesday, March 29, immediately following hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m. CDT

WHERE: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, 219 S. Dearborn St., Room 2721, Chicago

CHICAGO – Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb will be available for media interviews Wednesday following oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in a Wisconsin case concerning student bodily privacy. At issue is whether children will be exposed in intimate settings, like locker rooms and showers, to members of the opposite sex.

In December, ADF filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the court in support of the Kenosha Unified School District’s policies that respect the privacy rights of all students.

“No student should be forced to share an intimate setting—like a locker room or shower—with anyone of the opposite sex,” said McCaleb. “Kenosha’s policy protects the bodily privacy rights of all children. That’s why we are asking the court to reverse the district judge’s ruling, which is out of step with the law, decades of federal court precedent, and common sense.”

In July, a teenage girl who perceives herself to be a boy sued the Kenosha Unified School District when her high school declined her request to use the boys’ restroom as a mode of affirming her male identity. Administrators asserted that intermingling the sexes in the boys’ private facilities would violate other students’ privacy rights. To accommodate the student, they provided a gender-neutral, single-stall restroom in the school office. The situation is similar to ones in which ADF is involved in Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio.

The key legal issue presented in Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District is whether federal sex nondiscrimination law—Title IX—which was intended to provide equal access for girls to educational opportunities—will instead be used for a purpose other than Congress intended. Last month, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice rescinded an Obama administration directive to school districts that misrepresented Title IX.