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Transgendered Librarian’s Rights UpheldA federal appeals court ruled June 20 that a Minneapolis school district had acted appropriately when it offered alternate facilities to a teacher who did not want to use the same restroom as a transgendered employee. A three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling favoring the school district, noting that the complainant had access to restrooms that Debra Davis, the school librarian who had formerly lived as a male, did not use. Southwest High School teacher Carla Cruzan had sued the district, claiming it discriminated against her by allowing Davis, who had decided to live and dress as a woman in 1998, to use the women’s restroom. She cited religious and privacy issues in her complaint. Davis retired in 2001 after working for 32 years in the Minneapolis schools and is now executive director of the nonprofit Gender Education Center, the Associated Press reported June 21. “My appropriate behavior did not create a hostile work environment for others,” she said. “The fact that I exist as a transgendered person doesn’t discriminate against another’s religious beliefs.” Cruzan, who is on a leave of absence, told reporters, “My concern is that this is a Trojan horse for women across the nation, because when men can come into our restrooms regardless of our biology . . . this is just going to make us more vulnerable, to say nothing of privacy and modesty issues.” Posted July 1, 2002. |
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