Coy Mathis The family of an American six-year-old has fought and won its battle against a school which banned her from using the girls' toilet. Coy Mathis was barred from using the ladies’ at her Colorado school, despite identifying as female from 18 months old and living as a girl since age four. Colorado’s civil rights division has now sided with the family, saying the school's action '”creates a barrier where none should exist, and entirely disregards the charging party’s gender identity”. Division director Steven Chavez wrote in the decision that the school was forcing the child to “disregard her identity while performing one of the most essential human functions”. Chavez added this “constitutes severe and pervasive treatment, and creates an environment that is objectively and subjectively hostile, intimidating or offensive” and that “compartmentalizing a child as a boy or a girl solely based on their visible anatomy, is a simplistic approach to a difficult and complex issue”. The family has already moved to another part of Colorado and plans to enrol Coy in a school there.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 25th June 2013 - 4:25pm