In Minnesota, the state Human Rights Act, which has been on the books since 1993, makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex.
Jill Gaulding, senior counsel at Gender Justice in St. Paul, noted that Minnesota was the first state in the country "to make that clear. A lot of courts have recognized over the years that when laws say don't discriminate on the basis of sex, that has to include the rights of transgender students.
"Our rights should be secure regardless of whatever confusion arises at the federal level," Gaulding said.
Last fall, a group of parents in Virginia, Minn., sued the school district over a transgender student's use of the girls' locker room at Virginia High School. The parents are asking to roll back the district policy that allows students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities.
The lawsuit said that the now-former federal directive requiring schools to view gender identity as sex is unlawful.
The ACLU filed a motion in October to intervene on behalf of the transgender student.
Teresa Nelson, legal director of the ACLU Minnesota, said the lawsuit currently is on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a case out of Gloucester County, Va., about transgender students' access to bathrooms that align with their identity.
Regarding Trump's ending of the federal guidelines, Nelson said, "I don't think lifting the guidelines in any way modifies [schools'] obligations. A number of courts have found that discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination."
Nelson noted that a decision in Ramsey County District Court — unrelated to transgender policies at schools — found that prohibiting medical care in gender transition cases violates the Minnesota constitution.
