US District Judge Pamela Pepper on Monday rejected a motion by the Kenosha Unified School District to dismiss the case brought by Ashton Whitaker accusing the district of discriminating against him. On Tuesday Pepper issued a temporary restraining order barring the district from enforcing its policy prohibiting Whitaker from using the boys' restroom while the case is pending.

There's no question that Ash has already suffered harm and has had physical repercussions from the policy as well as emotional repercussions.

--Judge Pepper, who challenged the district's argument that its local school board — and not the courts or an individual student — should determine its own policies

I'm very excited to call Ash to tell him what the judge decided. The case is certainly not over, but we're happy she recognized that his harm is real.

--Joseph Wardenski, attorney for Ash and his mother

Kenosha Unified's attorney Ronald Stadler voiced disappointment and said the district would appeal both of Pepper's decisions this week.

Whitaker and his mother filed the lawsuit in July, alleging that the Kenosha district and Superintendent Sue Savaglio-Jarvis discriminated against him in violation of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools, and Whitaker's 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law.

The lawsuit is one of many transgender bathroom-access cases being addressed by federal courts around the country.

Wardenski argued Tuesday that failure to impose the injunction would cause Whitaker irreparable harm. He cited affidavits from the teen and experts saying he already suffers from anxiety, depression and other symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his gender dysphoria and the district's policy exacerbates those conditions and puts him at risk of a "lifelong lack of well-being."

Stadler took issue with the plaintiff's experts and the suggestion that a student has the right to declare his own gender.

There is simply no support in the law for that proposition.

In making her decision, Pepper acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed a similar injunction imposed in a Virginia case in the 4th Circuit but that the court offered no guidance as to why. She said her injunction was justified given legal precedent in the 7th Circuit and the facts of the Whitaker case.