Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is taking a strong stance in support of a school district’s efforts to maintain separate bathrooms based on students’ biological sex.
“This is about dividing children from their parents. It’s a lot more than just bathrooms and locker rooms,” he stated in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Friday.
Rokita’s statement comes as the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville recently filed an appeal hoping to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decision from Aug. 24 that mandated Martinsville and the Vigo County School Corporation to allow students to use school facilities, including bathrooms and locker rooms, according to their gender identity.
Indiana school district renews legal fight after court blocks rule separating bathrooms by biological sex https://t.co/gUMmhMJVOi
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The decision followed a preliminary injunction issued by a lower court after some students filed lawsuits in 2021, claiming that certain students diagnosed with gender dysphoria should have the right to use facilities matching their gender identity. The lower court had ruled in favor of the students.
In the lawsuit, two 15-year-old twins attending a high school in the Vigo County School Corporation argued that their gender dysphoria, coupled with a medical condition affecting restroom use, justifies their use of male restrooms.
Furthermore, a 13-year-old middle school student in the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville asserted that the district violated Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational programs receiving federal financial assistance.
Backing the revolting students is Ken Falk, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, who emphasized the emotional and physical distress students experience when denied access to appropriate facilities.
“Students who are denied access to the appropriate facilities are caused both serious emotional and physical harm as they are denied recognition of who they are. They will often avoid using the restroom altogether while in school,” Falk stated.
“Schools should be a safe place for kids and the refusal to allow a student to use the correct facilities can be extremely damaging,” he added.
But Rokita, in her Fox News interview, noted, “These issues are much more than just the issue at hand that they’re attacking. This is about more than just social and cultural war issues. Because all of these issues are rooted in economics.”
Leading a coalition of 21 states, the attorney general is actively supporting policies that designate school facilities based on students’ sex as indicated on their birth certificates rather than their gender identity.
