Doe v. State of South Carolina
What’s at stake: The rights of transgender students in South Carolina to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity.
Summary: In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit confirmed that transgender students must be allowed to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Yet, in the summer of 2024, South Carolina passed a law, Proviso 1.120, that forbids exactly that – part of the broader attack on trans people in the state and nationwide.
As a result, our client, a thirteen-year-old transgender student in Berkeley County, South Carolina, was suspended for using the boys’ restroom.
When he returned to school, our client, referred to as “John Doe,” suffered constant policing by school staff who were instructed to closely monitor his use of the restrooms. Teachers began, for the first time, separating their students into two lines—one for boys, and one for girls—to monitor who was using which restroom. On more than one occasion, a teacher yelled at John for trying to use the boys’ bathroom and prevented him from relieving himself. Eventually, his parents withdrew him from the school and enrolled him in an online program, which offers fewer educational and social opportunities than his in-person middle school.
In November 2024, Public Justice, along with two law firms, filed a class action lawsuit in South Carolina federal court on behalf of John, his family, and Alliance for Full Acceptance, a local LGBTQ+ rights organization. By bringing a class action lawsuit, John seeks to protect thousands of trans students across the state who are being denied their rights under Title IX, the law banning sex discrimination in school, and the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
Core legal issue: The question at the heart of this lawsuit—whether transgender students have a right to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity—has already been settled by the Fourth Circuit. Yet states and schools continue to violate the law. Courts need to hold them accountable and protect trans students’ rights.
