An unnamed student at Boyertown High School is suing the Boyertown Area School District and three administrators in federal court for allegedly violating his right to bodily privacy. On Tuesday, the minor student, through his parents, filed a civil lawsuit against the district and three school officials in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

                Gender identity issues appear to be at the center of this case. According to the suit, filed by two Christian-based organizations, the plaintiff was exposed involuntarily "to an undressed student of the opposite sex while changing in his school's locker room."

                The incident violated the male student's rights as identified in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Title IX and Pennsylvania's Public School Code of 1949, according to the text of the 31-page complaint.

                The lawsuit accuses four defendants – the district, Superintendent Richard H. Faidley, high school Principal Brett A. Cooper and Assistant Principal E. Wayne Foley – of "secretly authoriz[ing] a student of the opposite sex to have unrestricted access to enter and use boys' private facilities."

                The district is reviewing this matter with legal counsel, according to a statement issued Tuesday by Faidley. According to the statement, officials received a demand letter from multiple attorneys related to student bathroom use.

                A complaint has not been officially served to the Boyertown Area School District, according to the Faidley. Attorneys have given the district until April 4 to formulate a response.

                District officials offered no additional comments.

                On Oct. 31, "Joel Doe" began changing in the locker room for physical education class.

                "Standing in his underwear, the boy suddenly realized there was a member of the opposite sex changing with him in the locker room, who was at the time wearing nothing more than shorts and a bra," the lawsuit states.

                Joel Doe experienced "immediate confusion, embarrassment, humiliation and a loss of dignity upon finding himself in this situation," according to the document.

                During a meeting by Doe and various classmates after gym class, Foley allegedly informed them that students who mentally identify with the opposite sex could choose which bathroom and locker room to utilize.

                According to the complaint, the administrator told Joel Doe there was nothing he could do to protect the boy from the situation and told him to "tolerate" it to make it as "natural" as possible. He was then permitted to change in the nurse's room, according to the document.

                The district "further marginalized, intimidated and shamed" the minor by disclosing the details of the incident to the principal at the Berks Career and Technology School in Oley where he attended half the day, according to the filing.

                The assistant principal of the vo-tech school,  Ray Jenkins, said on Nov. 2 he had had a "casual conversation" with the boy about the incident to make sure "none of that negativity was going to happen at his school."

                During a meeting between the boy's parents and Faidley, the superintendent "indicated "that if Joel Doe felt uncomfortable with changing with those of the opposite sex, or with using the nurse's office, then he could just withdraw from school and be home schooled, while still attending Vo-Tech if he wished," according to the lawsuit.

                Lawyers claim the district's actions, "which have resulted in disciplinary action and poor grades by only receiving half of the day's credit for participating in street clothes rather than gym clothes," have left the boy feeling "violated, humiliated and embarrassed by the invasion of privacy." 

                The suit – which demands a jury trial – seeks a declaration that the defendants' actions and practices violates the plaintiff's right to privacy and the Pennsylvania School Code of 1949, a declaration that the defendants committed an "unlawful intrusion upon the Joel Doe's seclusion and bodily privacy rights, a permanent injunction enjoining the district to permit males and females to enter and use facilities" based on their biology, and an award of compensatory damages to the plaintiff.

                Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom and the Randall Luke Wegner, from the Independence Law Center, of Harrisburg, will serve as co-counsel in the lawsuit, according to an email from the Dan Bartkowiak of the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI).

                The Alliance Defending Freedom, headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., described itself as an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith. Founded in 1994, the organization has provided millions of dollars in funding for hundreds of cases and legal projects to protect religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family, according to its website.

                The Independence Law Center, a public-interest law firm affiliated with PFI, works to preserve religious liberty, promote marriage and the family, and protect human life, its website states.