Transgender Girl Coy Mathis Wins Toilets Case

A six-year-old transgender girl will be able to return to school after winning the right to use the female bathroom.

Coy Mathis was discriminated against when staff at Eagleside Elementary School in suburban Colorado Springs told her she could not use the girls' toilets, a civil rights panel ruled.

Her parents raised the issue after school officials said the youngster could use the bathroom in either the teachers' lounge or the nurse's office.

Kathryn and Jeremy Mathis said the decision would end up stigmatising their daughter, who they said had come out of her shell when they began to allow her to live as a girl.

Since they filed their complaint, Mr and Mrs Mathis have moved to the Denver suburb of Aurora, and Coy has been educated at home.

It was not immediately clear whether the family would enrol her in the new district.

Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 has declined to discuss the case.

School districts in many states, including Colorado, allow transgender students to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.

Sixteen states, including Colorado, have anti-discrimination laws that include transgender people.

In Maine, the state's highest court heard arguments this month about whether school officials violated the rights of Nicole Maines, now 15, by requiring her to use a staff bathroom after there was a complaint about her using the girls' bathroom.

The Mathises said Coy, a triplet, showed an early preference for things associated with girls.

At five months, she took a pink blanket meant for her sister, and she later showed little interest in toy cars and refused to leave the house if she had to wear boys' clothes.

Her parents also said she became depressed and withdrawn, telling them that she wanted to get "fixed" by a doctor.

They later learned she had gender identity disorder - a condition in which someone identifies as the opposite gender.

The Mathises said they decided to help Coy live as a girl and she came out of her shell.