Lambda Legal and Pillsbury Establish New Precedent with Transgender Discrimination Win in Florida

Lambda Legal filed the case against the St. Johns County School Board on behalf Adams and his mother in June 2017 in response to the School Board’s denial of Adams’ access to the boys’ restroom at Allen D. Nease High School because he is transgender. Adams, who began living openly as a boy in 2015, had used the boys’ restroom when he started his freshman year without incident but, after an anonymous complaint was made, he was told he could only use gender-neutral restrooms or the girls’ restroom.

The Adams’ lawsuit argued that the School Board’s policy to exclude transgender students from the restrooms that match their gender identity was unconstitutional because it discriminates based on sex, in direct violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments Act. Ultimately, the court agreed.

“…Drew Adams is just like every other student at Nease High School, a teenager coming of age in a complicated, uncertain and changing world,” wrote Judge Corrigan in his decision. “When it comes to his use of the bathroom, the law requires that he be treated like any other boy.”

To learn more about Adams and his case, click here. 

The Pillsbury team representing Adams—in conjunction with Tara Borrelli, Paul Castillo and Omar Gonzalez-Pagan of Lambda Legal—includes partners Jennifer Altman, Markenzy Lapointe, Shani Rivaux and Richard Segal, senior counsel Aryeh Kaplan, counsel Nathaniel Smith, and associates Robert Boyd and William Miller. Kirsten Doolittle of Jacksonville’s Law Office of Kirsten Doolittle, P.A. also served as co-counsel.