The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Kenosha, WI, Unified School District violated the rights of a trans boy, Ash Whitaker, when it refused to let him use the boys' bathroom.

According to the court, Whitaker is likely to win upon a full review of the case (instead of the current review of a lower court’s preliminary injunction) on his claim that the school’s actions violated Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination in schools based on sex, and the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th Amendment. So it upheld a lower court’s injunction forcing the school to let Whitaker use the bathroom that aligns with his gender identity.

The three-judge panel concluded the school district "has failed to provide any evidence of how the preliminary injunction will harm it, or any of its students or parents." The panel thus dismissed the district's claim that letting transgender students use the restroom appropriate to their gender identity will harm other students.

The ruling has big implications: If existing federal law and the 14th Amendment shield trans people from discrimination, then it’s not just Whitaker’s rights that are protected here, but all trans students’. And if bans against sex discrimination in particular apply to trans people, then it’s not just students’ rights that are protected, but all trans people who face discrimination in other settings where sex discrimination is banned — so not just schools, but the workplace and housing as well.

This powerful decision — another in a growing list of rulings affirming the constitutional rights of transgender people — helps Ash and tens of thousands of students like him get the same opportunity to learn as any other student. It recognizes that fully respecting and including transgender students like Ash Whitaker is legally and morally the right thing to do, and that discrimination against these young people because of who they are is cruel, wrong and illegal.

--Mara Keisling, NCTE

Whitaker's case is not dependent on the Obama guidance which was voided by Trump administration.

Instead, it poses the straight question: Are trans people protected under federal law? If other courts agree with the Seventh Circuit Court, that could reshape the face of civil rights laws in America — and help fill a void that’s left trans people legally unprotected from discrimination across most of the US.