Thursday, September 20, 2012
Plain and Simple: Making the Case for Fair Treatment of Trans Students
by Laura Kiritsy, Manager of Public Education
http://blog.glad.org/2012/09/plain-and-simple-making-case-for-fair.htmlFourteen years later, Ben and I drove the 440-mile round trip in his 2001 Honda Civic DX (with manual locks and windows) back and forth to Bangor so he could argue another important case, Doe v. Clenchy. GLAD is representing Susan Doe (a pseudonym), a transgender girl who had her education disrupted when the public school she attended did an "about face" by excluding her from the girls' bathroom after a male student repeatedly harassed her.
The hearing took place on Wednesday in Penobscot County Superior Court in downtown Bangor before Judge William R. Anderson. The day before his court appearance, Ben followed his standard argument preparation on our drive to Northern Maine. First, he lowered the volume of the Glee soundtrack and treated me to a preview of his argument on the drive up. It was nearly flawless, although I didn't interrupt with umpteen questions, as judges often do. Then, after a sumptuous dinner at the local Longhorn Steakhouse, Ben retreated to his hotel room for a final review of his notes and a session of yoga and meditation. Meanwhile, I retreated to my room to eat a Snicker's bar and watch a Civil War documentary.
At counsel table along with Ben were Jennifer Levi, the director of our Transgender Rights Project; John Gause, counsel for the Maine Human Rights Commission, which is also a party to the case, and Jodi Nofsinger, a Maine attorney who is also part of our litigation team. Susan, who is now a sophomore in high school, was seated close behind them, along with her very supportive mother and father.
