Transgender bathroom access laws in the United States
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Some states and municipalities have adopted provisions addressing the use of restrooms by transgender people, with some permitting transgender individuals to use public restrooms that match their gender identities and others prohibiting it. Government actions in a variety of states and localities, including North Carolina and Houston, Texas, brought this issue to the fore beginning in 2015 and 2016.
See the sections below for further information:
- Background: This tab provides contextual information about transgender bathroom access laws, including key term definitions and relevant court cases.
- Ballot measures and legislation: This tab provides information about relevant ballot measures at the local and state levels. In addition, information about relevant state legislation is provided.
- News feed: This tab provides a sampling of recent news articles relating to transgender bathroom access.
- Polling: This tab provides information about public opinion polling on questions relating to transgender bathroom access.
Background
Key terms and concepts
- Gender expression: The American Psychological Association (APA) defines gender expression as the "way in which a person acts to communicate gender within a given culture; for example, in terms of clothing, communication patterns, and interests."[2]
- Gender identity: The APA defines gender identity as "one's sense of oneself as male, female, or transgender."[2]
- Sex: The APA defines sex as "a person's biological status," which is "typically characterized as male, female, or intersex."[2]
- Sexual orientation: The APA defines sexual orientation as "the sex of those to whom one is sexually and romantically attracted."[2]
- Transgender: The Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy group, defines transgender as "an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation."[3]
Anti-discrimination laws
As of June 2018, 18 states and the District of Columbia had adopted anti-discrimination laws that included protections for transgender people. Generally speaking, these laws applied to employment, housing, and public accommodations. These states are listed in the table below. As of June 2018, there was no federal anti-discrimination law that provided protections on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.[4]
| Anti-discrimination laws, June 2018 |
|---|
| State |
| California |
| Colorado |
| Connecticut |
| Delaware |
| Hawaii |
| Illinois |
| Iowa |
| Maine |
| Maryland |
| Massachusetts |
| Minnesota |
| Nevada |
| New Jersey |
| New Mexico |
| Oregon |
| Rhode Island |
| Vermont |
| Washington |
| Washington, D.C. |
Court cases
Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board
- See also: Gloucester County School Board v. G.G.
High school student Gavin Grimm identified as a transgender male. After coming out as transgender, he began using the men's restroom in school. After nearly two months, parents of other children of the school complained to the Gloucester County School Board, which then created a policy prohibiting transgender students from using the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity. Grimm sued, arguing that the school board was violating Title IX, a federal law prohibiting gender discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. The United States Department of Education had—in a January 7, 2015, letter—interpreted this ban on gender discrimination as including discrimination against people based on their gender identities and their use of bathrooms.[5]
After U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar ruled against Grimm, the case was appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned the lower court's ruling in a 2-1 decision. The court affirmed the right of the U.S. Department of Education to interpret Title IX and remanded the case back to the district court with instructions to allow Grimm's lawsuit to move forward. In June 2016, the U.S. Eastern District Court of Virginia ruled that Grimm should be allowed to use the men's restroom. The Gloucester County School Board then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the issue. In August 2016, The U.S. Supreme Court granted the school district's request to block the lower court's ruling until a full appeal was made, meaning Grimm was not allowed to use the men's restroom. On October 28, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari on the school board's petition, indicating that the court would hear the case during the court's October 2016 term.[6][7][8][9][10]
Argument in the case was scheduled for March 28, 2017; however, on March 6, 2017, the judgment in the case was vacated and the case was remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in consideration of new guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education on February 22, 2017.[11]
- Note: Although the plaintiffs in the two cases below alleged discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, it should be noted that sexual orientation and gender identity are not identical issues. See above for further information about these two terms.
Goins v. West Group
Julienne Goins, a transgender woman, began consistently identifying as female in 1995. In May 1997, Goins was hired to work at West Group's Rochester, New York, office. Later that year, she transferred a West Group facility in Eagan, Minnesota. Prior to the formal transition, Goins was observed using the women's restroom at the Eagan facility. West Group's director of human resources, upon consultation with other employees and the company's legal counsel, "decided to enforce the policy of restroom use according to biological gender." The director of human resources determined that Goins should use single-occupancy restrooms at the facility.[12]
This decision was communicated to Goins on her first day of work at the Eagan facility. According to court documents, "Goins refused to comply with the restroom use policy, in protest in part, and continued to use the employee women's restroom closest to her workstation." In November 1997, Goins' superiors "threatened [her] with disciplinary action if she continued to disregard the restroom policy." In January 1998, Goins resigned (declining a promotion and salary increase). In her resignation letter, Goins claimed that the human resources department "had treated her in a manner that had caused undue stress and hostility."[12]
Goins filed suit in district court, "alleging that [West Group] had engaged in discrimination based on sexual orientation." Ultimately, in 2001, the case came before the Minnesota Supreme Court, which ruled against Goins. According to the state supreme court, "an employer's designation of employee restroom use based on biological gender is not sexual orientation discrimination in violation of the [Minnesota Human Rights Act]."[12]
Doe v. Regional School Unit 26
In the fall of 2007, Nicole Maines began the fifth grade at Asa Adams School, an elementary school in Orono, Maine. Assigned male at birth, Nicole began to identify as a girl as a toddler and throughout elementary school. Nicole, who had been using girls' bathroom facilities at Asa Adams for some time prior, continued to do so upon entering the fifth grade, with the support of school personnel. Soon after the commencement of the school year, a male student "followed [Nicole] into the restroom on two separate occasions, claiming that he, too, was entitled to use the girls' bathroom. The student was acting on instructions from his grandfather, who was his guardian and was strongly opposed to the school's decision to allow Nicole to use the girls' bathroom." As a result of this controversy, school officials prohibited Nicole from using the girls' restroom. Instead, officials instructed Nicole to use a unisex staff bathroom. In December 2007, school officials "determined that Nicole would not be permitted to use the girls' bathroom" upon transitioning to middle school. Subsequently, the Maines family decided to move to another part of the state.[13][14]
On April 10, 2008, Nicole's mother, Kelly Maines, filed a complaint with the Maine Humans Rights Commission "alleging that the superintendent and other school district entities violated the [Maine Human Rights Act] by excluding Nicole from the communal girls' bathroom at Asa Adams." The commission unanimously agreed. On September 23, 2009, Nicole's parents, Kelly and Wayne Maines, filed suit against the school district in Maine Superior Court, "asserting claims for unlawful discrimination in education and unlawful discrimination in a place of public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation." On November 10, 2012, Judge William Anderson ruled in favor of the district, finding that the district had "acted within the bounds of its authority in prohibiting [Nicole] from using the girls' restroom; it did not itself harass [her] by its actions, and it was not deliberately indifferent to the harassment that [she] had experienced from others." The Maines family appealed the decision to the Maine Supreme Court.[13][15]
On January 30, 2014, the Maine Supreme Court ruled 5-1 in favor of the Maines family, reversing the lower court's decision. The court found that school officials had violated the state's anti-discrimination law. According to the Washington Blade, this decision marked "the first time a state court has ruled that trans students must be allowed to use a bathroom consistent with their gender identity."
Polling
Public opinion polls
| Should transgender people "be allowed to use public restrooms, dressing rooms and locker rooms designated for a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth?" | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Yes | No | Not sure | Sample Size | |||||||||||||||
| YouGov poll on transgender issues June 2, 2015-June 4, 2015 | 37% | 38% | 25% | 994 | |||||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted on this issue. Those displayed are a sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
| North Carolina - Should transgender people be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with? Or not? | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Should be allowed | Should not | Not sure | Margin of Error | Sample Size | ||||||||||||||
| SurveyUSA with TWC North Carolina April 1, 2016-April 3, 2016 | 40% | 51% | 9% | +/-4.3% | 540 | ||||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted on this issue. Those displayed are a sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
Ballot measures and legislation
Ballot measures
2018:
Thus far, Ballotpedia has tracked the following 2018 statewide ballot measures pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
- Massachusetts Question 3, Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Veto Referendum (2018) Status: Approved
2017:
Ballotpedia did not track any 2017 statewide ballot measures pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people that were certified for the ballot.
State legislation
The following is a list of recent bills that have been introduced in or passed by the state legislatures. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.
Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, then no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislatures recently.
News feed
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Transgender bathroom gender identity. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Transgender bathroom access laws in the United States, 2015-2016
- Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus
- 2016 presidential candidates on gay rights
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 American Civil Liberties Union, "Know Your Rights: Transgender People and the Law," accessed March 9, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 American Psychological Association, "Definition of Terms: Sex, Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation," accessed April 4, 2016
- ↑ Human Rights Campaign, "Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Definitions," accessed April 4, 2016
- ↑ American Civil Liberties Union, "Non-Discrimination Laws: State by State Information," accessed April 4, 2016
- ↑ Washington Post, "Federal appeals court sides with transgender teen, says bathroom case can go forward," accessed April 21, 2016
- ↑ ACLU, "GG v Gloucester County School Board," accessed April 21, 2016
- ↑ American Civil Liberties Union, "G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board - Opinion," September 17, 2015
- ↑ Daily Press, "Gloucester School Board asks Supreme Court to rule on transgender case," August 29, 2016
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Order List - 580 U.S.," October 28, 2016
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "McCrory To Assess How Ruling On Va. School Bathroom Policy Impacts NC Law," accessed April 21, 2016
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Order list," March 6, 2017
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Minnesota Supreme Court, "Goins v. West Group: Decision," accessed April 4, 2016
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Maine Supreme Court, "Doe v. Regional School Unit 26: Opinion," January 20, 2014
- ↑ Court documents refer to Nicole Maines as Jane Doe. Her parents are referred to as John and Jane Doe.
- ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Judge finds in favor of Orono schools over transgender girl’s use of bathroom," November 20, 2012
