• 在 2014 年的這項突破性裁決中，緬因州最高法院裁定，拒絕跨性別女孩使用學校的女廁侵犯了她根據緬因州《人權法案》享有的權利，該法案禁止歧視跨性別者。
  • 緬因州奧羅諾學生妮可·梅恩斯 (Nicole Maines) 做出的這項裁決標誌著該州法院首次裁定跨性別學生必須被允許使用與其身份相符的衛生間。

案件背景

GLAD Law represented a transgender teen girl whose Orono, Maine elementary and middle schools removed her from the girls’ restroom because of her transgender status and forced her to use a staff-only, non-communal restroom in isolation from her peers. Eventually, the parents were forced to withdraw their daughter and her twin brother from the Orono school system and move them to another part of the state where they could go to school quietly and safely.

The parents also filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission and ultimately decided to file a lawsuit on behalf of their daughter. GLAD Law represented Nicole along with Lewiston attorney 賓州 Berman & Simmons 的 Jodi L. Nofsinger

時間軸

January 30, 2014 – Victory! Maine High Court rules that denying a transgender girl the use of the girls’ restroom at her school violated her rights under the state’s Human Rights Act. 閱讀該決定。

June 12, 2013 – GLAD Law Attorney Jennifer Levi presented argument on our client’s behalf before the Maine Law Court (Maine’s highest court). A decision is not expected for several months. Read the press release.

May 3, 2013 – Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and other child welfare organizations filed an amicus brief in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of our client.

March 14, 2013 – GLAD Law filed an appeal brief in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of our client.

November 20, 2012 – The Maine trial court judge granted summary judgment for the school. GLAD Law announced we will immediately appeal the decision. Read more.

September 19, 2012 – GLAD Law Attorneys Ben Klein and Jennifer Levi were in trial court in Bangor, Maine, for a summary judgment hearing in the case.

On January 30, 2012 – GLAD Law filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that Maine’s law prohibiting discrimination in schools on the basis of gender identity requires that a school provide a transgender girl with access to the girls’ restroom.

In May, 2011 – GLAD Law filed a complaint in Penobscot Superior Court outlining counts of discrimination in education and public accommodation, harassment, and infliction of emotional distress. The named defendants are the Superintendent of the Orono Schools Department, the Orono Schools Department, School Union 87, and Riverside Regional Schools Unit.