St. Johns County transgender student wins right to use boys' bathroom this upcoming school year

Jacksonville, FL — Just over a year after a transgender student filed a discrimination lawsuit against the St. Johns County School Board, for a policy that prevented him from using the boys' bathroom, a US district court judge has now issued a 70 page ruling in his favor.

An attorney for Drew Adams telling our partner Action News Jax, this ruling means that Adams will be allowed to use the boys' restroom at Nease High School this upcoming school year.

In the ruling obtained by WOKV, the judge's ruling says both sides agreed that boys at Nease High School should use the boys' restroom, with the heart of the debate being whether Adams is a boy.

The judge finding that based on all the evidence presented at trial, which included all sorts of details about Adams' social, medical, and legal transitions---and Adams obtaining a birth certificate and driver's license identifying him as a male-- that the law required he be treated as such.

The judge adding that the evidence shows that Adams poses no threat to the privacy or safety of his fellow students.

"Rather, Drew Adams is just like every other student at Nease High School, a teenager coming of age in a complicated, uncertain, and unchanging world," writes Judge Timothy Corrigan.

As part of the ruling, the judge deciding that the school board's bathroom policy violated Adams’ rights under the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX.

Adams was also awarded a compensatory damages award of $1,000 for emotional distress, though, Adams had previously said the lawsuit was never about the money.