Activist Judges

It is funny how conservatives only cry out about activist judges when they rule against them. In Maine a judge ruled that a school system did not discriminate when they denied a trans-student the judge wrote,

“The court is not unsympathetic to [the girl’s] plight, or that of her parents,” Anderson wrote in his 26-page opinion. “It is no doubt a difficult thing to grow up transgender in today’s society. This is a sad truth, which cannot be completely prevented by the law alone. The law casts a broad stroke where one more delicate and refined is needed. Although others mistreated [the girl] because she is transgender, our Maine Human Rights Act only holds a school accountable for deliberate indifference to known, severe and pervasive student-on-student harassment. It does no more.
“In this case, the school acted within the bounds of its authority in prohibiting [the girl] from using the girls’ restroom; it did not itself harass [the girl] by its actions, and it was not deliberately indifferent to the harassment that [she] experienced from others,” the judge concluded.
“The court finds that there is no evidence of deliberate indifference with respect to plaintiff’s claims of education discrimination, and it finds that defendants acted within the law under the public accommodation discrimination claim. Therefore, the court grants summary judgment to [the school district].”

So even through the legislature passed a broad law to cover gender discrimination, this judge didn’t like it and wanted a narrower definition. There are numerous federal and other states court rulings that support the broad view of the law as did the Maine Human Rights Commission that had ruled in favor of the plaintiff. The commission found that the school district did violate the states anti-discrimination law in not allowing the student to use the girl’s bathroom and this case was to attach monetary value for being discriminated against.

In addition, there are many laws and court rulings that require a school to provide a safe learning space which this judge totally ignored. Bullying is against the law in Maine just like it is here in Connecticut; if a school is informed about a student being bullied no matter for whatever reason they are legally required to stop the bullying.

So how did this come about? The school originally allowed her to use the girl’s bathroom and there were absolutely no problems, but then one day (From the court record)…

However, on September 28, 2007, a male student, JM, entered the girl’s bathroom while Susan and her friends were washing their hands. JM used the restroom and then began washing his hands, prompting some girls to run from the restroom screaming. A teacher came into the restroom to remove him. JM objected, stating that he “was a girl using the girl’s and told the teacher that his grandfather had told him that if Susan could go into the girl’s restroom, so could he. He was subsequently sent to the principal’s office, where he was spoken to and expressed remorse for his actions. It quickly became apparent that JM’s grandfather-guardian, Paul Melanson, had indeed instructed him to enter the girl’s restroom after becoming aware of Susan’s use of the girl’s restroom, an obvious attempt to resister a protest and express his view of Susan’s use of the girl’s restroom.

The students didn’t have any problems with her using the girl’s restroom; it was the adults who had the problem. It was an adult agitator that stirred up all the trouble; however, the story didn’t end there...

Paul Melanson, grandfather of the boy accused of harassing the transgender student, also filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission, saying that not allowing his grandson to use the girls bathroom or the faculty bathroom as the other child did was a violation of his grandson’s right to public accommodation under the Maine Human Rights Act. Melanson had given his grandson permission to use the girls bathroom as long as the transgender student was doing so, according to the report.

Enough is enough, an irate Melanson said Monday of the commission’s ruling.

“It ticks me right off that you’re letting a kid run the whole system,” he said.

Melanson is now trying to inspire Maine moms to protest the decision, which he thinks is wrong — and unfair to both boys and girls.

“Little boys do not belong in the little girls room, and vice versa,” he said. “This isn’t just about my kid. A lot of children have come up to me and said that this isn’t right.”

On Monday, the commission found that Asa Adams School did not unlawfully discriminate against Melanson’s grandson “because of his sexual orientation,” which is a heterosexual male.

“Minor Student 2 was disciplined because his biological sex is male and his gender identity is male and he used the girls’ bathroom,” the investigator’s report said.

After the incident the school required her to use the teacher’s restroom and Susan began to be harassed by the other students. So what did the school do to end the harassment? Why they assigned an adult to follow her around, can you imagine what that was like for a fifth grader? Wherever she went there was the adult right on her heels, in the cafeteria, in the classroom, she couldn’t be alone with any of her friends and as a result she became isolated from her classmates.

GLAD has said the parents are appealing the judge’s decision.