USCA11 Case: 18-13592 Document: 304-1 Date Filed: 12/30/2022 Page: 3 of 150
Lagoa, Circuit Judge:
This case involves the unremarkable—and nearly universal—practice of separating school bathrooms based on biological sex. This appeal requires us to determine whether separating the use of male and female bathrooms in the public schools based on a student’s biological sex violates (1) the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1, and (2) Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. We hold that it does not—separating school bathrooms based on biological sex passes constitutional muster and comports with Title IX.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Defendant-Appellant, the School Board of St. Johns County (the “School Board”), is responsible for providing “proper attention to health, safety, and other matters relating to the welfare of students” within the St. Johns County School District (the “School District”). Fla. Stat. § 1001.42(8)(a). The School Board maintains and oversees the K-12 policies for the 40,000 students who attend the thirty-six different schools within the School District. See generally id. § 1001.42. Of the 40,000 students attending schools within the School District, around sixteen identify as transgender.
Plaintiff-Appellee, Drew Adams, is a transgender boy. This means that Adams identifies as male, while Adams’s biological sex—sex based on chromosomal structure and anatomy at birth—is female. Adams entered the School District in the fourth grade as
