John Doe is a transgender student who transitioned in second grade. For over eight years, the school district prohibited John from using the boys’ restroom and locker room. By the time John reached high school, he would avoid going to the restroom all day, interfering with this ability to focus in class. He was also unmotivated to participate in physical education because changing in the nurse’s office always made him late to class. John’s mental health and grades suffered; he was at risk of failing, and having to repeat, his sophomore year.

In the middle of his sophomore year, on January 18, 2018, NCLR and Foley & Lardner LLP sued John’s school district for discriminating against him and excluding him from the boys’ facilities. John sought a preliminary injunction that would have required the school district to allow John to use the boys’ facilities while the case was pending. Although the Court denied that motion, it set an accelerated trial schedule, with a trial date in October 2018. In August 2018, just before the beginning of John’s junior year, the parties settled the case. John was finally able to use the boys’ restroom and locker room and it changed everything for John. He made honor roll every semester of his junior year and started talking about attending college, a thought he previously refused to consider.