Transgendered Child's Bathroom Use Roils School

Coy Mathis is listed as female on her passport and state-issued ID, but apparently her Colorado elementary school doesn't see her that way. Because Coy is transgendered and was born a male, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District has barred her from using the girls' bathrooms at Eagleside Elementary, CNN reports. If she doesn't want to use the boys' restrooms, she can visit the faculty bathrooms (which are gender-neutral) or the nurse's bathroom, the district told Coy's parents in December.

Coy used the girls' bathrooms during the first half of the school year, but the district decided to stop allowing that after taking into consideration "the future impact a boy with male genitals using a girls' bathroom would have," says an attorney for the district, noting that parents and other students might eventually be "uncomfortable" with the situation as Coy's "male genitals develop." Coy's family has lawyered up, and is planning to file a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division; the first-grader is currently being homeschooled. (More Coy Mathis stories.)