An unnamed female student from Wayne County, Pennsylvania, has filed a federal complaint with authorities because a transgender student changed in the same locker room as she did.
She claims the transgender person changing nearby constitutes sexual harassment and a violation of her civil rights.
The complaint, which was delivered to the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Division, revolves around an incident early in the year at Honesdale High School.
The plaintiff reportedly noticed she was changing with a transgender student and told teachers about her discomfort, at which point they allegedly told her she could wait outside the locker room until the transgender student was finished, making her late to class.
The girl's lawyers have posted a video to social media.
Honesdale High Violates Student's Bodily Privacyyoutu.be
Of course, the girl's entire complaint is built on the idea that transgender women aren't actually women and pose an inherent threat that most women do not, an idea that most people believe to be bigoted and oppressive.
This belief is made clear in the way the plaintiff speaks about the incident, misgendering the transgender woman as a man:
"I glanced down and could tell that he was wearing women's underwear and what was underneath it."
The district's superintendent declined to comment on the complaint, but did mention that his schools are compliant with the recent court ruling "allowing trans students to use the facilities of their choosing."
Conservatives everywhere, perhaps sensing the power of feminist ideals among liberals, are framing the argument as one centered around privacy, claiming a woman has a right to set boundaries and decide who sees her undressed.
While this argument has legitimate merits, these conservatives have never made any qualms about the privacy of their children when they changed in open locker rooms until transgender students were allowed inside.
Some believe conservative politicians are focusing on women's rights to obscure the real issue: transgender rights.
Nowhere in the student's complaint does she allege that the transgender student takes malevolent or harassing actions against her—only that the student "looked at her."
She is, in fact, saying that she was sexually harassed merely by a transgender student's presence, innocent as it may have been, because she doesn't recognize her as a woman despite her insistence to the contrary.
One commenter on the attorney's Facebook page also couldn't help but point out that the girl who filed the complaint was initially made uncomfortable by the transgendered girl allegedly "looking at her," moments before she did the exact same thing:
"Sounds like your client is the one who is guilty of voyeurism. WTF is she doing checking out other people's genitals?"
ABC-WNEP reportedly spoke to many local individuals who were unwilling to give formal statements but stood behind the girl who felt violated by her experience changing with another woman.
Others, like Elizabeth Ritter of Beach Lake, however, felt the current policies are perfectly acceptable:
"I don't think there's anything wrong with someone who identifies as a woman changing in the women's locker room because that's how they feel, that shouldn't be judged, I don't think they're trying to be sexual or harass anyone by doing that. I think that's their right."
Attorneys for the plaintiff's family are pushing for federal investigators to look into Wayne Highlands schools, but the fate of the public policies which allow transgender men and women to change where they feel most comfortable will likely be decided by an upcoming Supreme Court decision.
