Federal appeals court backs Florida school district that blocked transgender student from using boys bathroom

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Florida school district’s policy that separates school bathrooms by biological sex.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its 7-4 decision on Friday, ruling that the St. Johns County School Board did not discriminate against transgender students based on sex, or violate federal civil rights law by requiring transgender students to use gender-neutral bathrooms or bathrooms matching their biological sex.

The court’s decision was split down party lines, with seven justices appointed by Republican presidents siding with the school district and four justices appointed by Democratic presidents siding with Drew Adams, a biological female, who sued the district in 2017 after not being allowed to use the boys restroom.

A three-judge panel from the appeals court previously sided with Adams in 2020, but the full appeals court decided to take up the case.

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Judge Barbara Lagoa wrote in the majority opinion that the school board policy advances the important governmental objective of protecting students’ privacy in school bathrooms. She said the district’s policy does not violate the law because it’s based on biological sex, not gender identity.

Judge Jill Pryor wrote in a dissenting opinion that the interest of protecting privacy is not absolute and must coexist alongside fundamental principles of equality, specifically where exclusion implies inferiority.

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Two other federal appeals courts have ruled that transgender students can use bathrooms that accord with their identities.

Friday’s decision increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue.

“This is an aberrant ruling that contradicts the rulings of every other circuit to consider the question across the country,” Tara Borelli, a spokesperson for LGBT advocacy group Lambda Legal who provided aid to Adams, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “It is also lengthy. We will be reviewing and evaluating this distressing decision over the weekend and will have a fuller response next week.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.