A lawyer for the ACLU described the Trump-appointed judge’s ruling “as disappointing as it is absurd.”
A Mississippi judge ruled in favor of a school district that told a transgender girl she must dress as a boy in order to attend her high school graduation.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Harrison County School District on behalf of the student and her parents after Harrison Central principal Kelly Fuller and school district superintendent Mitchell King allegedly told the girl, who has not been identified publicly, that she must dress in male-presenting attire at the graduation ceremony, despite the fact she is a transgender girl.
U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel in Gulfport on Friday sided with the school district, denying the ACLU’s complaint, according to court documents. McNeel was appointed to his position by former President Donald Trump, a Republican who has spoken out against transgender rights in the past.
The ruling comes as schools across the country find themselves at the center of the debate about how transgender minors should be treated.
