A divided Missouri Supreme Court denied a transgender student’s sex discrimination appeal against a Kansas City school district this week, with the majority finding that the student did not prove he was discriminated against based on his male sex.
In a 5-2 decision released Tuesday, the majority affirmed Jackson County Circuit Judge Cory L. Atkins’s decision to nullify a jury’s $4 million award to R.M.A., a transgender male student. A jury sided with R.M.A. in 2021 after finding the school district liable for sex discrimination and awarded him damages with nearly $1 million in attorney fees. He filed suit in October 2015, claiming that the school discriminated against him as he used public facilities based on his sex because the school district denied him access to single-sex locker rooms and bathrooms. The student’s challenge was an issue of first impression under the Missouri Human Rights Act’s public accommodations section.