‘It wasn’t a fight. It was a beat down’: Oklahoma mother suing school district after daughter, 15, was attacked by trans student, 17, in bathroom rubbishes school’s claim it wasn’t aware the student was biologically male
- Theresa Gooden said her daughter, who is only identified as EG, received a ‘beatdown’ from the 17-year-old transgender student in October
- She is suing the school district for $75,000 after her daughter was physically and mentally harmed by the ordeal
- Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald said the unidentified student was listed as female in the school’s system
An Oklahoma mother sued her daughter’s school district after her 15-year-old was attacked by a transgender student in the bathroom, who the school claimed to not know was biologically male.
Theresa Gooden said her daughter, who is only identified as EG in the $75,000 lawsuit, received a ‘beatdown’ from the 17-year-old transgender student in October.
‘It’s pretty traumatizing. It wasn’t a regular fight, it was a beatdown,’ Gooden told Fox and Friends First.
The student, who was assigned male at birth, was legally not allowed to be in the girl’s restrooms as Oklahoma law prevents it. The Southern state requires people use the restroom associated with the gender listed on their birth certificate.
However, Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald said the unidentified student was listed as female in the school’s system.
‘In high school, birth certificates are not required to start school. So there was no birth certificate in the (student’s) file at the time to verify one way or another,’ she said in a video.
Theresa Gooden said her daughter, who is only identified as EG in the $75,000 lawsuit, received a ‘beatdown’ from the 17-year-old transgender student in October. ‘It’s pretty traumatizing. It wasn’t a regular fight, it was a beatdown,’ Gooden said
‘If a parent comes in and enrolls their child as a certain gender, and when you look at that child by all social norms they look and present themselves as that gender, it’s not something that you would question.’
However, Gooden and her attorney Greg Andrews argues that EG informed the school the transgender student had made previous threats against her and that the student was male. In addition, the student had allegedly been searched for weapons by police, according to Fox and Friends.
‘They knew firsthand at that point that there was a chance it was a boy based on what my client’s daughter said,’ Andrews told the outlet. ‘The police report indicates they did have a paternity affidavit on file in the student file that identified the boy as a male. So the school is just lying, and they didn’t comply. I can’t wait until we get discovery in this, because it’s clearly going to show that they violated the law.’
The mother, who said her daughter is emotionally traumatized from the attack, said: ‘It’s not OK. That was a brutal attack on my daughter because they didn’t follow guidelines. I expect my daughter to be safe at school.’
Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald said the unidentified student was listed as female in the school’s system. ‘In high school, birth certificates are not required to start school…If a parent comes in and enrolls their child as a certain gender, and when you look at that child by all social norms they look and present themselves as that gender, it’s not something that you would question’
The student, who was assigned male at birth, was legally not allowed to be in the girl’s restrooms as Oklahoma law prevents it. The Southern state requires people use the restroom associated with the gender listed on their birth certificate
Gooden is seeking an amount in excess of $75,000 in damages from the district as well as payment of her costs. The lawsuit also states that the transgender student ‘confided’ in her daughter that ‘he was in fact a male student that identified as a female.’
EG claims that she informed the Assistant Principal Maryjel Cochrane of the conversation, but court documents claim nothing was done.
In addition, the lawsuit states that the alleged attacker, who was born male, was removed from the school by police after threatening the teenage girl with a weapon on October 21.
In a statement, the school said: ‘Because this matter is in litigation, there is little that can be said at this time. However, Edmond Public Schools is confident that when the facts are presented, it will be determined that the district fully complied with the law and acted in a reasonable manner.’
