Ashton Whitaker, a Wisconsin transgender boy, scored a victory in the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals this week, meaning he can continue using the boys' restroom at his high school in Kenosha.
The Kenosha Unified School District had appealed U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper's September ruling and argued that the harm to other students, particularly boys using the bathroom, outweighed any harm to Whitaker, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
But the three-judge appeals panel, which covers Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, disagreed unanimously.
"The school district has not demonstrated that it will suffer any harm from having to comply with the district court's preliminary injunction order," the appeals court ruling stated. "Nor has it established that the public as a whole will suffer harm."
"We are further convinced that the district court did not err in finding that this balance weighed in favor of granting the injunction when considering the statements made by amici, who are school administrators from 21 states and the District of Columbia," the ruling continued.
Ironically, Tuesday's ruling comes as 17-year-old Whitaker is set to graduate as a senior from George Nelson Tremper High School, according to NBC News.
"I hope my case will help other transgender students in Kenosha and elsewhere to just be treated the same as everyone else without facing discrimination and harassment from school administrators," Whitaker told NBC News.
In February, the Trump administration revoked former President Barack Obama's guidance to public schools that allowed transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice, Reuters reported.
A year ago, the Obama administration instructed public schools to allow transgender students use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity, even threatening to withhold funding for schools that did not comply, the wire agency noted.
Trump rescinded those guidelines even though they had already been put on hold by a federal judge, arguing that states and public schools should have the authority to make their own decisions rules.
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