Transgender-Rights Case Moves Too Quickly

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear the case of a transgender teen who seeks to use the boys’ room at his high school during his senior year. Given that the appeals court had ruled in his favor, it’s unfortunate that the court took up the case. It’s too soon, in cultural terms, for the court to rule definitively on the subtle issue of transgender rights, which poses powerful equality claims against society’s deeply ingrained male-female gender binaries. Transgender rights could benefit from a longer lead time for the lower courts to explore the different aspects of the question -- and for the American people to develop a consensus.

The specific legal challenge isn’t at all simple. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded schools, and a federal regulation demands equal facilities based on sex. Neither the law nor the regulation defines what counts as “sex.” Both have historically been read to allow separate but equal boys’ and girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.