Three Students Join Lawsuit over BASD Transgender Policy

            Three more Boyertown High School students have joined a civil lawsuit against the school district and its administrators claiming that their right to bodily privacy is violated by the district's transgender policy.

            On Tuesday, the students identified as junior Mary Smith, 18; junior Jack Jones, a minor; and senior Macy Roe, 18, joined Joel Doe, also a minor, in the case. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania last month by two Christian-based organizations, which represent Joel Doe and his guardians.

            BASD policy allows students to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

            The lawsuit claims that because of the policy, Doe was exposed involuntarily "to an undressed student of the opposite sex while changing in his school's locker room," causing "embarrassment and humiliation."

            The suit accuses the BASD, 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."

            Faidley, in a March 22 statement, said, "The BASD is firmly committed through our words and actions to treating every student, and member of our community with respect, dignity, and sensitivity in accordance with all applicable laws."

            He added that the district's policy is "guided by a recent federal court ruling in a Pennsylvania case" and that Doe was offered "reasonable and appropriate alternatives" to sharing the locker room with the transgender student.

            However, the three students who joined the lawsuit Tuesday also claim that the district's policy has caused emotional distress.

            According to the amended complaint, Jones and Smith also "experienced embarrassment and humiliation" because they shared facilities with members of the opposite sex.

            The suit claims that all four students feel "stress, intimidation, apprehension and distress throughout [the] day knowing that to obtain an education [they] must attend to [their] most personal needs in private facilities unprotected from the entrance, presence or exposure of" a student of the opposite sex. The students avoid using bathrooms and locker rooms "because of the ongoing risk of having [their] privacy violated," the suit states.

            On April 3, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a legal motion to defend BASD's practice of allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

            The organizations filed their motion to intervene on behalf of Aidan DeStefano, a trangender student at the high school, and the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, a coalition of LGBTQ youth leaders and youth organizations, such as the Boyertown Gay-Straight Alliance, whose members include transgender students who would be harmed by the lawsuit, according to information posted on the ACLU's website.

            The lawsuit – which requests a jury trial – seeks a reversal of district policy and an award of compensatory damages to the plaintiffs.

             Attorneys with the Christian-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) of Arizona and Independence Law Center (ILC) of Harrisburg will serve as co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, according to an email from the Dan Bartkowiak of the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI).