USCA11 Case: 18-13592 Document: 304-1 Date Filed: 12/30/2022 Page: 88 of 150
regulatory carveouts do not speak to the issue we face here: the School District’s categorical assignment of transgender students to sex-separated restrooms at school based on the School District’s discriminatory notions of what “sex” means.
Finally, the majority opinion depicts a cascade of consequences flowing from the mistaken idea that a ruling for Adams will mean the end of sex-separated bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports. But ruling for Adams would not threaten any of these things, particularly if, as I urge here, the ruling was based on the true nature of Adams’s challenge and the School District’s evidentiary failures at trial.
In sum, the majority opinion reverses the district court without addressing the question presented, without concluding that a single factual finding is clearly erroneous, without discussing any of the unrebutted expert testimony, and without putting the School District to its evidentiary burden. I respectfully dissent.
I. BACKGROUND
I set out the factual and procedural background to this case in four parts. In this section I first discuss Adams’s status as a transgender boy; define relevant terms; and describe the substantial changes Adams has undergone socially, physically, and legally. Second, I identify the St. Johns County School District’s (the “School District”) bathroom policy and discuss alternative bathroom policies other schools have adopted. Third, I explain how the School District enforced its bathroom policy against Adams at
