8-year-old — or more correctly 8-year-old’s parents — are suing his school over this ‘grave injustice’

8-year-old — or more correctly 8-year-old’s parents — are suing his school over this ‘grave injustice’

Ah, the social justice warriors are out in force, blazing new trails and shattering old ceilings.

The latest example is a child age 8, who has been named as a plaintiff, along with his parents, in a lawsuit against a school in Orange County, Calif.  for failing to let him express his identity as a girl.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 2, alleges that Heritage Oak Private School violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act, a California law enacted in 1959 that outlaws discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation.

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According to the suit, a biologically male child named Nikki Brar is claiming discrimination after being barred by the school from wearing the girls’ uniform, using the girls’ bathroom, and being called a “she.”

Brar’s lawyers said he was determined to fight for “education without discrimination,” the Los Angles Times reported Monday. The suit is particularly noteworthy because it is “the first [transgender rights] case to use a state anti-discrimination law as one of the grounds for relief,” Mark Rosenbaum, director of the pro bono Public Counsel Opportunity Under Law, told the LA Times.

The boy’s parents filed the suit against Heritage Oak, its executive director Phyllis Cygan, and school’s parent group, Nobel Learning Communities. They are seeking damages for “emotional distress and discrimination,” as well as more than $10,000 for school tuition and fees. They also asked Heritage Oak to write an additional nondiscrimination policy specifically for transgender students, and demanded that the school teach lessons on transgender identity in the classroom.

“It honors our child’s commitment to being who she is despite adversity,” Brar’s mother, Priya Shah, wrote in an email. “It is our small contribution toward ensuring that other transgender and gender expansive children do not go through the same hardship and trauma.”

Nobel Learning Communities released a statement following the lawsuit that reads:

We believed it was extremely important to respond, not hastily, but with deliberate care, to decide when and how to inform and educate our entire elementary school community of students, staff and parents about the mid-year change of gender identity expression of a young child. … Unfortunately, these accommodations were rejected and the parents withdrew their child.

“They have to create a private school environment that’s safe and supportive for all students,” said Asaf Orr, an attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ transgender youth project.

An appeals court found in 2009 that a private, nonprofit school can’t be sued under the Unruh Act, but Heritage Oak is a for-profit, therefore making it unlikely that the judge will rule the same way with this case.

Brar will start at a public school in Orange County in the fall.

This report, by Grace Carr, was cross posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

LU Staff

LU Staff

Promoting and defending liberty, as defined by the nation’s founders, requires both facts and philosophical thought, transcending all elements of our culture, from partisan politics to social issues, the workings of government, and entertainment and off-duty interests. Liberty Unyielding is committed to bringing together voices that will fuel the flame of liberty, with a dialogue that is lively and informative.

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