A parent from Oklahoma is suing the state’s school district after her daughter was allegedly beaten in a bathroom by a transgender student, according to reports.
Theresa Gooden filed the lawsuit on Thursday, alleging that on October 26, 2022, a 17-year-old transgender woman “attacked and severely beaten” her 15-year-old daughter “E.G.” in the girls’ restroom at Edmond Memorial High School.
The document notes that the alleged attacker was given the gender assigned to him at birth, despite a state law passed in May 2022 requiring pupils in public schools to use facilities that correspond to their assigned gender. Transgender students who decline to follow the policy must use “a single-occupancy restroom or changing room.’”
Police removed the alleged attacker from the school on October 21 after he threatened E.G. FOX25 reported that the school district claimed in December that it was unaware that the student had been designated as a boy at birth because they had only recently started attending the school.
“The student’s parents enrolled them as a woman without a birth certificate, which is not necessary to begin high school,” the district said in a statement.
However, the lawsuit accuses Edmond Memorial of allowing the transgender student to use the women’s bathroom when E.G. informed assistant principal Maryjel Cochrane of their gender identity.
Two months after the incident, Superintendent Dr. Angela Grunewald confirmed that the accused attacker was no longer attending the school.
Grunewald also reiterated the state’s bathroom policy and said that it was violated during the alleged fight. “We take our policies seriously, and we expect students to follow them,” she added.
This comes as more and more states enact such bills to prevent transgender students from using any bathroom that they desire. Similarly, Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee signed a law prohibiting transgender students from using restrooms at public schools that match their gender identity.
“The Governor has said she will sign laws that focus on protecting and educating our kids, not indoctrinating them and believes our schools are no place for the radical left’s woke agenda,” Alexa Henning, Sanders’ spokesperson, said in a statement earlier this year. “Arkansas isn’t going to rewrite the rules of biology just to please a handful of far-left advocates.”
