A federal judge who previously ruled that an Indiana middle school must allow a female student who identifies as transgender to use the boys’ restroom rejected a request from the school district on Monday to delay enforcement of her earlier ruling while the district appeals the decision.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt first ruled on April 27 that the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville must allow the female student to use the boys’ restroom, WISH-TV reported. The district asked Pratt to put her previous injunction on hold while it appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the injunction “would be disruptive of the school’s operations…and undermine the order and authority of the school.”
The middle school had prohibited the transgender student from using the boys’ bathroom, playing on male sports teams and using male pronouns.
On Monday, Pratt ruled that the district did not show evidence that it would suffer “irreparable harm” if the previous ruling took effect.
“This speculative harm is both unsupported by any evidence and appears questionable, given that the School District allows other transgender students to use the restrooms associated with their gender identity,” Pratt wrote, according to the report.
“In addition, the School District has not presented any new arguments or evidence to demonstrate that the public interest weighs in favor of maintaining the School District’s authority over such matters until more clear and direct guidance on Title IX is provided,” the judge added.
She wrote that the student has already been using the boys’ bathroom for three weeks and that there is only two weeks remaining in the school year.
* Article from: The National Review
