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WASHINGTON - A civilian employee of the Illinois National Guard today filed a class action lawsuit in federal court challenging a Trump-Vance administration policy prohibiting transgender and intersex federal employees from using restrooms aligned with their gender. The complaint was filed on behalf of Ms. Withrow by the 老熟女午夜福利, the ACLU of D.C., the ACLU of Illinois, and Democracy Forward. Plaintiff LeAnne Withrow of Springfield, Illinois, is a lead military and family readiness specialist and civilian employee for the Illinois National Guard. Previously, she served as a staff sergeant for the National Guard and is the recipient of multiple commendations and awards, including the Illinois National Guard Abraham Lincoln Medal of Freedom. Following a January 20 executive order signed by President Trump, officials with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the federal National Guard Bureau issued notices to all employees requiring use of designated restrooms strictly based upon their 鈥渂iological sex,鈥� as inaccurately defined in the executive order. Soon after, Withrow was told by supervisors within her chain of command that she could not use restrooms designated for women. On May 5, Ms. Withrow filed a class action complaint鈥痶o the Army National Guard Bureau Equal Opportunity Office (NGB-EO), and later to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), challenging the federal order, but both the NGB-EO and EEOC failed to resolve the matter. Ms. Withrow has now gone to court to stop this unlawful and discriminatory order. Today鈥檚 class action lawsuit alleges that the executive order and implementation actions violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination in employment. In a 2020 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court held 6-3 that Title VII prohibits discrimination against transgender workers on the basis of their sex. The complaint also alleges that the order and implementation violate the federal Administrative Procedure Act. 鈥淣o one should have to choose between their career in service and their own dignity,鈥� said LeAnne Withrow, a civilian federal employee for the Illinois National Guard. 鈥淚 bring respect and honor to the work I do to support military families, and I hope the court will restore dignity to transgender people like me who serve this country every day.鈥� 鈥淣o federal employee should have to face hostility and discrimination while they are working to serve the American people,鈥� said鈥疭hana Knizhnik, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU鈥檚 LGBTQ & HIV Project. 鈥淲e look forward to demonstrating to the court that this unlawful executive order not only denies the existence of transgender and intersex employees, it is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to target and punish transgender people for simply being who they are. There is no place for such blatant discrimination in our government or society.鈥� 鈥淲e cannot let the Trump administration target transgender people in the federal government or in public life,鈥� said鈥疢ichael Perloff, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU-D.C. 鈥淎n executive order micromanaging which bathroom civil servants use is discrimination, plain and simple, and must be stopped.鈥� 鈥淚t is absurd that in her home state of Illinois, LeAnne can use any other restroom consistent with her gender鈥� other than the ones controlled by the federal government,鈥� said Michelle Garcia, Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU of Illinois. 鈥淭he Trump Administration鈥檚 reckless policies are discriminatory and must be reversed.鈥� 鈥淭his policy is hateful bigotry aimed at denying hardworking federal employees their basic dignity simply because they are transgender,鈥� said Kaitlyn Golden, Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward. 鈥淚t is only because of brave individuals like LeAnne that we can push back against this injustice. Democracy Forward is honored to work with our partners in this case and are eager to defeat this insidious effort to discriminate against transgender federal workers.鈥� Today鈥檚 complaint can be found here.

OKLAHOMA CITY 鈥� Teachers and students in Oklahoma filed a brief in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals this week asking the court to enjoin the state's classroom censorship law in its entirety. HB 1775 restricts teachers鈥� abilities to discuss race, sex, and American history in the classroom, and since its passage in 2021 and throughout the lifecycle of the case, the law has contributed to widespread fear and self-censorship among educators. 鈥淪tudents in Oklahoma deserve the opportunity to learn the full truth about American history, something that is currently impossible under HB 1775,鈥� said Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU鈥檚 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 鈥淲e are proud to have had success striking down the higher education provisions in this censorial law, and we will continue to work to ensure that K-12 classrooms can be open and free so that teachers no longer fear repercussions for doing their jobs and students can enjoy a rigorous, inclusive education.鈥� The district court in BERT v. Drummond enjoined part of HB 1775 but left much of the law in place. Now, the ACLU and partners, on behalf of a diverse group of teachers and students, ask the 10th Circuit to enjoin HB 1775 in its entirety because the law violates the 14th Amendment by failing to provide teachers notice of what the law prohibits and the First Amendment by denying students the right to receive information. The 10th Circuit has the opportunity to issue the first circuit court opinion striking down a classroom censorship statute, setting a powerful precedent nationwide. 鈥淎nyone who is concerned about free speech and free expression should be concerned about this law,鈥� said Rebecca Barrett, staff attorney with the ACLU of Oklahoma. 鈥淎nyone who is concerned about education should be concerned about this law. It is a blatant attack on public education in America, and that is why we are now asking the Tenth Circuit to enjoin the law in its entirety and to ensure Oklahoma students have access to a robust and inclusive education.鈥� As part of their appeal, the government asserts that curriculum and book choices constitute 鈥済overnment speech.鈥� If adopted, this theory could remove K-12 classrooms from First Amendment scrutiny altogether, leaving classrooms totally unprotected from partisan, political interference with children鈥檚 education. "The State's use of the government speech doctrine to try and defend HB 1775 should concern everyone,鈥� said Maya Brodziak, senior counsel with the Lawyers鈥� Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. 鈥淭heir argument is that every time a teacher speaks in class, the teacher speaks only as the government's mouthpiece. School, however, is not a place where students go to learn only what the government believes but rather to learn how to think about and analyze a variety of viewpoints 鈥� including but not limited to 鈥� the view adopted by the government." The lawsuit was originally filed in 2021 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma by the 老熟女午夜福利, ACLU of Oklahoma, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and pro bono counsel McDermott Will & Schulte LLP on behalf of a wide range of plaintiffs across higher ed and K-12 schools, including the Oklahoma State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP-OK); the American Indian Movement (AIM) Indian Territory on behalf of itself and its members who are public school students and teachers; a high school student; and Oklahoma public high school teachers Anthony Crawford and Regan Killackey. Amicus briefs were filed by a wide range of civil rights and educational advocacy groups, including Oklahoma Appleseed, the NAACP鈥檚 Legal Defense Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Academy of Education. The 10th Circuit brief can be viewed here.

WASHINGTON 鈥� Attorneys representing a 15-year-old West Virginia transgender girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson, and her mother Heather Jackson today filed their response brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in their challenge to a 2021 West Virginia law barring Pepper-Jackson from participating on girl鈥檚 athletic teams. Becky and her mother are represented in West Virginia v. B.P.J by the 老熟女午夜福利, the ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal, and Cooley LLP. 鈥淚 play for my school for the same reason other kids on my track team do鈥搕o make friends, have fun, and challenge myself through practice and teamwork,鈥� said Becky Pepper-Jackson, 15, of West Virginia. 鈥淎nd all I鈥檝e ever wanted was the same opportunities as my peers. Instead, I鈥檝e had my rights and my life debated by politicians who鈥檝e never even met me but want to stop me from playing sports with my friends. I know this case isn鈥檛 just about me, or even just about sports. It鈥檚 just one part of a plan to push transgender people like me out of public life entirely. I鈥檓 proud to stand up alongside my mom for what I believe and who I am and I want other transgender kids to know they aren鈥檛 alone.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檝e always raised my children to stay true to themselves, no matter what anyone else tells them,鈥� says Heather Jackson, mother of Becky Pepper-Jackson. 鈥�"I'm so proud of Becky and the young woman she's becoming, one who is hardworking, kind, and a team player. My daughter and every transgender kid like her deserves the freedom to be themselves and a future where no one is discriminated against just because of who they are.鈥� 鈥淭his case is fundamentally about the ability of transgender youth like Becky to participate in our schools and communities,鈥� said Joshua Block, Senior Counsel for the ACLU鈥檚 LGBTQ & HIV Project. 鈥淪chool athletics are fundamentally educational programs, but West Virginia鈥檚 law completely excluded Becky from her school鈥檚 entire athletic program even when there is no connection to alleged concerns about fairness or safety. As the lower court recognized, forcing Becky to either give up sports or play on the boy鈥檚 team鈥搃n contradiction of who she is at school, at home, and across her life鈥搃s really no choice at all. We look forward to defending her rights, and the rights of every young person, to be included as a member of their school community, at the Supreme Court.鈥� 鈥淏ecky simply wants to be with her teammates on the track and field team, to experience the camaraderie and many documented benefits of participating in team sports,鈥� said Lambda Legal Counsel, Nonbinary & Trans Rights Project Director, Sasha Buchert. 鈥淚t has been amply proven that participating in team sports equips youth with a myriad of skills 鈥� in leadership, teamwork, confidence, and health. On the other hand, denying a student the ability to participate is not only discriminatory, but harmful to a student鈥檚 self-esteem, sending a message that they are not good enough and deserve to be excluded. In the end, can we not just let the kids play?鈥� The Supreme Court has also agreed to hear Little v. Hecox, a challenge brought by a transgender student against Idaho鈥檚 2020 ban on transgender athletes and requirements for sex testing. The 老熟女午夜福利, the ACLU of Idaho, Legal Voice, and Cooley LLP represent the plaintiffs in this case. The two cases charge the bans with violating the rights of transgender and cisgender female students under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In addition, West Virginia v. B.P.J. argues that the bans violate Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs. Federal courts have blocked enforcement of these bans in both lawsuits. Since 2020, 27 states have banned transgender youth from playing school sports. Many of these bans allow for invasive forms of sex testing that put all female student-athletes at risk and embolden intrusive challenges to student athletes' sex. In Florida, a 15-year-old junior varsity volleyball player was the subject of a police investigation after an anonymous accusation, prompting local officials to draft a 500-page report investigating her medical history, body weight, and anatomy. In Utah, a teenage basketball player was accused of being transgender by a member of the state board of education, leading to threats of violence against her and her family, and a teenager in Maine faced a similar attack from a state senator. In May, President Donald Trump similarly targeted a 16-year-old transgender girl for participating in a high school track meet. Under an Arizona ban, a cisgender male student was prohibited from participating on the boy鈥檚 team at his high school because of a clerical error that listed him as female on his original birth certificate. Many women athletes have spoken out against bullying and discrimination against transgender student-athletes, including Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, Dawn Staley, Sue Bird, and Brianna Turner, as well as leading organizations fighting for gender equality in athletics including the Women鈥檚 Sports Foundation, the Women鈥檚 National Basketball Player鈥檚 Association, and the National Women鈥檚 Law Center. Today's brief in West Virginia v. B.P.J. can be found here. Today's brief in Little v. Hecox can be found here. These cases are part of the ACLU鈥檚 Joan and Irwin Jacobs Supreme Court Docket.