ACLU asks court to temporarily reverse Mat-Su school district transgender bathroom policy
The motion is part of an ongoing lawsuit that contends the district's transgender policy violates student rights.
What you need to know:
- A motion filed Wednesday by the ACLU of Alaska seeks a preliminary injunction to allow transgender students in the Mat-Su Borough school district to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities.
- The request is part of an ongoing lawsuit that argues the district's 2022 policy, which requires students to use facilities based on their gender at birth, violates the Alaska Constitution. The lawsuit seeks to permanently reverse that policy and to prevent the district from disclosing the birth gender and names of transgender students in school records.
- A hearing date for the motion has not been set. A trial on the lawsuit is scheduled for April.
A motion filed Wednesday asks a state judge to order the Mat-Su Borough school district to temporarily allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room of their choice.
The request for a preliminary injunction was filed in Palmer Superior Court as part of an ongoing lawsuit by the ACLU of Alaska on behalf of a transgender Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District elementary student and his parents.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this year, contends that a 2022 district policy requiring individuals to use the restroom or locker room corresponding to their biological gender at birth violates the student's rights under the state constitution. The suit seeks to permanently reverse the policy and block the district from disclosing the birth gender and names of transgender students in school records, which the suit says violates student privacy.
The new filing asks the court to temporarily require the district to allow transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identities, pending a final decision in the case. It also asks the court to temporarily block the district from disclosing transgender student information in internal records.
A hearing date on the motion has not been set. A nonjury trial on the lawsuit is scheduled for April before Palmer Superior Court Judge Thomas Jamgochian.
Mat-Su School District officials declined to comment on the motion or case.
“We have no comment regarding this ongoing case,” district spokesman John Notestine said in an email.
The district’s current transgender student policy, approved by the school board in 2022, replaced previous guidelines that allowed transgender students to “use the restrooms assigned to the gender which the student consistently asserts at school.” Under the current policy, transgender students can also request to use a private restroom, typically located in the school nurse's office.
The lawsuit is one of several pending against the school district, including a class-action suit that contends the district violates state and federal law by illegally restraining and isolating disabled students, and another filed by two now-former students who allege district officials violated their free speech rights by investigating a student-led protest and blocking political speech on campus.
A trial date for the free speech lawsuit is set for late 2025. No trial date has been set for the class-action lawsuit.
-- Amy Bushatz can be contacted at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.
