Page:Adams ex rel. Kasper v. School Board of St. Johns County, Florida (2020).pdf/37

 than non-transgender students, in violation of Title IX.”, 858 F.3d at 1049–50; 34 C.F.R. § 106.31(b)(4).

The record leaves no doubt that Mr. Adams suffered harm from this differential treatment. Mr. Adams introduced expert testimony that many transgender people experience the “debilitating distress and anxiety” of gender dysphoria, which is alleviated by using restrooms consistent with their gender identity, among other measures. 318 F. Supp. 3d. at 1299 (quotation marks omitted). Experts also testified that “forc[ing] transgender people to live in accordance with the sex assigned to them at birth … cause[s] significant harm.” at 1300. Mr. Adams described that he personally suffered “anxiety and depression” from “walk[ing] past the boys’ restroom on his way to a gender-neutral bathroom, knowing every other boy is permitted to use it but him.” at 1308. The bathroom policy caused him to feel sorely “alienated” and “different” from other students because he is transgender. Mr. Adams testified that, because of the policy, “I know that the school sees me as less of a person, less of a boy, certainly, than my peers.” R. Doc. 160-1 at 204.

Mr. Adams also suffered harm because he was separated from his peers in single-stall restroom facilities. Mr. Adams explained it felt like a “walk of shame” when he had to walk past the communal restrooms for a single-stall, gender-neutral restroom. It heightened the stigma he felt for being transgender. Mr. Adams had