Mat-Su School District Sued Over Transgender Bathroom Policy

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a new lawsuit against the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District over its policy regarding transgender students using restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

The ACLU is representing an anonymous transgender boy and his parents in the case. The name of the school the boy attends has also been withheld in the interest of anonymity.

The Mat-Su Borough School District adopted its current restroom and locker room policy in the fall of 2022. It requires students to use the facility corresponding to their sex as assigned at birth.

The ACLU says their client “…Faces mental and physical challenges because he is denied access to the boys’ bathrooms, even though he is a boy.”

The ACLU claims the school district’s policy violates the student’s rights under both the U.S. and Alaska Constitutions. In Wednesday’s statement, Ruth Botstein, Legal Director for the ACLU of Alaska says “The student just wants to be able to go to school like any other kid, to focus on learning and socializing with his peers, and not have constant stress and anxiety about where and when he is going to be able to use the bathroom.” 

This is the fourth lawsuit filed against the Mat-Su Borough School District in the last six months.  Those suits include another filed by the ACLU along with the Northern Justice Project that challenges the district’s policy on challenged library books. Earlier in January, the plaintiffs in that case filed for a preliminary injunction seeking to have fifty-six challenged books returned to school library shelves pending the outcome of that lawsuit.