Jury awards $4 million to Missouri trans student denied access to locker room with his team

A trio of urinals in a men’s restroom
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

RJ Appleberry, a former student in Missouri’s Blue Springs school district, has been awarded $4 million by a jury. Appleberry sued the district, alleging sex discrimination because he is transgender.

The former student graduated in 2018, but the district’s actions were so egregious the jury not only awarded him $175,000 in damages, they tacked on the extra four million as punitive damages – plus the district has to pay his legal costs.

Related: A gym refused to let a trans woman use the women’s locker room. She just won a settlement.

Appleberry transitioned at 10-years-old. He changed his name in 2010 and his birth certificate was amended to male to reflect his true identity in 2014. He sued in 2015 when the district wouldn’t relent in their discriminatory policies that targeted him specifically.

He was forced to use separate single-use bathrooms and told him he couldn’t use the boys’ restroom. Under Missouri law, Appleberry is recognized as male.

While he participated in physical education and sports as a boy, he wasn’t allowed to use the locker room with his teammates. School authorities debated and…
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