Massapequa district files lawsuit after NYS blocks transgender bathroom policy
Massapequa High School last year. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
The Massapequa school district has filed a federal lawsuit against New York’s education commissioner and other top state officials, as well as a pair of district parents, asking the court to uphold the district’s policy on restricting transgender students' access to bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities.
The district’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York, names as defendants the state’s education commissioner Betty Rosa, its human rights commissioner Denise Miranda and its attorney general Letitia James, along with parents identified in legal papers as Jane and John Doe, whose transgender child attends a district school.
Rosa has “usurped” the school board’s policy-making authority and forced the district “to allow biological males to enter intimate spaces with biological females … to the detriment of its students and in contravention of the law,” the district argued in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit cited "several incidents" in which "biological males entered the girls’ bathrooms. Several female students complained of harassment and invasions of their privacy stemming from these incidents." The lawsuit did not provide details about the alleged incidents.
The Massapequa school board passed a resolution last month allowing students to use either facilities designated for their biological “sex” or separate, gender-neutral facilities, the lawsuit stated.
The suit asks the court to confirm that the district’s policy does not violate state and federal law and prevent state officials from interfering with the policy. In court papers, the district states that it is seeking reimbursement for its attorney fees and court costs but no other monetary damages.
In an emailed statement, the district’s attorney, Nicholas Rigano, wrote that the policy "fully complies with all law and safeguards every student’s privacy, safety and dignity." District officials, he wrote, "anticipate a swift resolution permitting enforcement of the District’s lawful, neutral policy."
The New York Civil Liberties Union is representing the Does in their appeal of the district policy.
Emma Hulse, education counsel at the NYCLU, said in an emailed statement, “This baseless lawsuit shows yet again that the Massapequa school board is more interested in bullying students and families and filing frivolous litigation than doing the job that voters elected them to do: ensuring a sound and equitable education for all students. All options are on the table to force Massapequa to follow New York laws, which prohibit discrimination based on gender identity."
The state Department of Education declined to comment on Wednesday, citing the litigation. Representatives for James and Miranda could not be reached for comment.
Rigano argued in court papers that state officials have put the district in an “impossible position” in which they must choose between disobeying a state order or violating federal law.
The federal Department of Education has “engaged in numerous enforcement actions against school districts throughout the country, including in New York, for permitting students to use intimate spaces in accordance with their gender identity,” Rigano wrote in the lawsuit.
Those actions made it clear that districts must only allow students to use facilities designated for their biological “sex” as defined by federal law and by an executive order signed in January by President Donald Trump, or gender-neutral facilities, he wrote. Trump’s order, the lawsuit said, states that “ ‘sex’ shall refer to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female."
The district passed its new policy in response to those enforcement actions, according to the lawsuit.
However, Rigano wrote, the state education commissioner issued a stay earlier this month prohibiting the district from enforcing its policy.
The NYCLU sought to block the district's policy earlier this month by filing an appeal with the state Department of Education. The group is representing a student in the district who faced restrictions under the policy.
Rosa barred the district from enforcing its policy until a decision is reached on the appeal. Rosa wrote in her order that the petitioners "demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits," under New York’s anti-discrimination laws.
The student “explained how and why it is ‘humiliating and isolating’ to use the gender-neutral locker room," which is not located near the student’s classrooms, Rosa wrote.
“Trans students are someone’s child, someone’s sibling — young people who laugh with their friends at lunch, worry about homework and get excited about prom,” the parent known as "John Doe" said in a statement. “What breaks our hearts is knowing that this board policy treats them like a threat instead of kids who just want to use the bathroom and get back to class...Trans youth are simply trying to grow up and feel safe, just like everyone else.”
In an emailed statement, the Massapequa school board said it filed the lawsuit “because the state's stay order forces our district to violate Title IX," referring to federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools. The board said the district is seeking a court ruling “to confirm that our resolution complies with all laws, shielding our students and taxpayers from further legal risks while protecting the dignity and well-being of all students.”
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
