Missouri appeals court reinstates $4 million verdict for trans student against school district

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An Appeals Court in the Western District of Missouri reinstated a jury verdict against a school district that allegedly denied a transgender person use of male restroom and locker room facilities.

John Ransom is a Lion contributor and a national political writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Epoch Times, at Townhall.com, Newsmax, the Daily Caller and IBT.

The plaintiff, who was transitioning from female to male in high school, alleged in a 2015 lawsuit that the Blue Springs School District (BSSD) denied equal access to facilities under the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA).

In 2022, a jury found in favor of the teen and awarded $4.2 million in damages. But the trial judge overturned the verdict, saying that the plaintiff failed to prove the charges at the hearings.

However, the appeals court cited Bostock v. Clayton County in reversing the trial judge’s decision. 

Bostock is a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that is helping President Joe Biden redefine the legal meaning of “sex” to mean gender identity.

Notably, Bostock was narrowly framed for cases of employment discrimination, not bathroom usage.  

“For an employer to discriminate against employees for being homosexual or transgender, the employer must intentionally discriminate against individual men and women in part because of sex,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in the Bostock text used by the appeals court to justify its decision on behalf of the plaintiff.

Critics of the Bostock decision have claimed it will be used as the thin edge of the wedge that will radically redefine gender identity into a protected class of people.

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