Judge strikes down Martinsville school's request to delay enforcement of April injunction

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — A federal judge has denied a request from the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville to delay an order in a case filed by a transgender student at John R. Wooden Middle School against the district.

The lawsuit claims the student is not allowed to use the boys' restrooms and participate in boys' soccer at the middle school.

In April, U.S. District Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the Southern District of Indiana issued an injunction that would require the district to allow the student to use boys' restrooms.

The MSD has since requested that the judge delay that order as the preliminary injunction is pending an appeal in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

I-69 in Martinsville: Here's what you need to know about I-69 work along corridor counties this week.

On Monday, however, Pratt denied the district's request.

According to Pratt's order filed Monday, the MSD "argues that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal because the facts in this case are distinguishable from those in Whitaker v. Kenosha United Sch. Dist. No. 1 Bd. of Educ., 858 F.3d 1034 (7th Cir. 2017)."

In the Whitaker v. Kenosha case, a transgender boy filed a lawsuit against the Kenosha United School District in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to allow him to use boys' restrooms.

Kenosha United Schools appealed that ruling, but a panel of judges with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied that appeal based on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

The MSD, according to Pratt's order released Monday, believes there are "factual differences and the legal developments post-Whitaker" which would differentiate the Martinsville schools' case between the Whitaker case.

Martinsville schools points to the Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia which "withh(eld) determination on facility distinctions between the sexes under Title IX for a different day and invit(ed) legal arguments and more thorough briefing on Title IX."

'Proud that I'm from Mooresville': Working-class roots guide area native to Ohio governor's race.

"Additionally, the (s)chool (d)istrict argues that the preliminary injunction evaluation standard for likelihood of success on the merits used in Whitaker was later held to be incorrect," Pratt notes in her Monday order.

The judge goes on to note that MSD believes allowing the student to use boys' restrooms "would be disruptive of the school's operations...and undermine the order and authority of the school."

"This speculative harm is both unsupported by any evidence and appears questionable given that the (s)chool (d)istrict allows other transgender students to use the restrooms associated with their gender identity," Pratt noted in her Monday order.

Pratt also noted there have been no reported incidents in the weeks since the student has been allowed to use boys' restrooms at the school, and that the district's school year is ending in the coming weeks.

"(T)he (c)ourt determines that the (s)chool (d)istrict has not shown that the public interest will be served by the issuance of a stay pending the (s)chool (d)istrict's appeal," Pratt noted.

'A restaurant is just fun': Bedford man opens Peddler's Loft Café in downtown Martinsville.

The Reporter-Times reached out to the MSD of Martinsville for comment on this story.

A district official responded with a statement attributed to attorney Jon Mayes that the MSD had "(n)o comment on pending litigation."

Contact Reporter-Times editor Lance Gideon at lgideon@reporter-times.com or 765-342-1543. Follow him on Twitter: @LanceOGideon.