Lawsuit Alleges Guidance Counselors Told to Give Students Green Wristbands to Monitor Restroom Use
Ashton Whitaker, a high school senior in Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit against the Kenosha Unified School District, alleging that he has been denied access to the bathroom that matches his gender identity.
The lawsuit, filed by the Transgender Law Center, alleges that guidance counselors were instructed to issue green wristbands to transgender students at the school to make it easier to monitor their bathroom use.
It also claims that Whitaker has been denied access to the boys’ restroom and that staff were directed to monitor him and report him to administrators if he used the boys’ restroom. Teachers also intentionally used his female birth name.
“I worry about how I’m going to navigate the demands of senior year if I can’t even go to the bathroom without worrying that I’m being watched,†Whitaker told a local news station.
“School is no longer the safe and welcoming place that it used to be,” Whitaker said in a statement from the Transgender Law Center. “Being banned from the boys’ bathroom is a daily reminder that school administrators see me as someone who is so different from the other students that I’m not even allowed to share a bathroom with them.”
“I’ve basically stopped using the bathroom at school altogether, which makes it painful and difficult to get through the school day,” he says.
Whitaker was required to room with girls or alone on field trips.
Wisconsin currently does not have any law that would require Ashton to use the boys’ restroom, although one failed in the state legislature after being introduced in October. Wisconsin Rep. Jesse Kremer, who introduced the legislation, plans to resurrect the bill after waiting to see if changes are needed based on other cases of similar laws around the country.
Federal guidelines detail acceptable treatment of transgender students. Green wristbands are, obviously, not included in the guidelines. Schools that do not follow the guidelines could risk losing federal funding.
Whitaker ran for prom king at his school, after creating a petition and gathering students for a protest on his behalf. When students were asked back in April, one student said that some girls would likely be uncomfortable having Whitaker in the girls’ restroom because his classmates don’t see him as female.
Fox 6 News reports the school district in a statement said it “does not have a practice or policy requiring any student to wear a wristband for monitoring any purpose or for any reason whatsoever.”Â
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Image: Screenshot via Fox 6 News