Message from:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020

Email to: SARATOGANY@aol.com

The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project

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Associated Press, November 6, 2000

City appeals ruling allowing transgender student to dress as girl

By Greg Sukiennik

BOSTON (AP) -- A state Appeals Court judge on Monday ordered a plan to be drafted in the next week that will allow a transgendered teen-ager to return to school while the case is pending.

The judge did not immediately rule on the Brockton school system's appeal of a preliminary injunction that would send the child back to classes. Instead, he noted during the hearing that there was limited information in the case, and suggested the school system and the eighth-grader's lawyer prepare for a full trial on the lawsuit.

''It seems to me it's important to get this issue fully fleshed out,'' Appeals Court Judge George Jacobs said. ''It seems to be that would be a far better way to proceed. I think it will do the issue far more justice.''

Jacobs told lawyers for both sides they had a week to make arrangements that would allow the 15-year-old boy to attend school while the case is pending. If such an agreement is not reached, Jacobs said, he will rule on the school system's objection to a lower court ruling allowing the boy to attend class.

Brockton officials had appealed a Superior Court judge's order allowing the student known in court as ''Pat Doe'' to attend school dressed in women's clothing.

On Oct. 12, Superior Court Judge Linda Giles granted a preliminary injunction ordering the Brockton Public Schools to allow the student to attend South Junior High school. The school had barred the boy from attending dressed in women's clothing.

The boy has not returned to classes and is still being tutored at home. But his attorney, Jennifer Levi, said arrangements are being made for the student's return, and that the boy is looking forward to rejoining his friends.

Edward Lenox, an attorney representing the Brockton public schools, said the schools will abide by Giles' decision.

In his argument, Lenox outlined the school's case that Pat Doe's dress female dress was disruptive. He noted that previous decisions have given schools the right to limit dress and behavior in the interest of maintaining order.

''There are 663 students at South Junior High. Only one of them is Pat Doe,'' Lenox said. He pointed to 17 incidents in which Doe allegedly disrupted school, claiming Giles ''glossed over'' that behavior in her ruling. ''We cannot separate behavior from appearance,'' he said.

But Levi, of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which is representing Pat Doe, said the disruption the schools cited was the result of her client's behavior, not attire. She said the boy has not asked to be disciplined differently from his peers.

''It would be very painful and very difficult for her to attend school if she cannot express her core female gender identity,'' Levi said. Throughout the hearing, Levi referred to the student as ''she,'' while Lenox called Doe ''he.''

The boy's grandmother sued the schools when they barred him from attending classes attired in women's clothing. A therapist had diagnosed the student with gender identity disorder, and said failure to allow him to dress as a woman would be harmful to his mental health.

The schools, arguing that the student's dress, behavior and use of the girl's bathroom was disruptive, had prohibited the student from attending school in women's attire this year.

The schools' appeal also contested Giles' refusal to recuse herself from the case, arguing the openly gay judge's membership in gay and lesbian legal groups violated judicial impartiality rules. But Lenox did not raise that issue in the hearing.

Giles ruled preventing the boy from dressing as a girl amounted to ''the stifling of a person's selfhood merely because it causes some members of the community discomfort.''

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This message has been distributed as a free informational service for the expressed interest of non-profit research and educational purposes only.

PRIMER WEBSITES

LIGALY Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth
http://www.ligaly.com/
GLSEN --- Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network
www.glsen.org
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
www.lambdalegal.org
Safe Schools Coalition of Washington
www.safeschools-wa.org
The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project Home Page
www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
www.pflag.org
Empire State (NY) Pride Agenda
www.prideagenda.org
GLAAD
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
www.glaad.org

"The Real or Perceived Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered Student Protection Project"
("Being safe at school should not be a radical concept".. Jamie Nabozny)

A project of:
Coalition for Safer Schools of New York State

John Myers
Director of Operations and Programs
PO Box 2345
Malta, NY 12020
(518) 587-0176
Email: SARATOGANY@aol.com

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