Transgender student sues Virginia school district for bullying, harassment, that left her with permanent brain injuries

NORFOLK, Va. - A transgender former student has sued the principal of Lake Taylor High School and Norfolk Public Schools, claiming they violated her right to equal access to public education by not taking steps to end abuse and bullying she faced.

Filed last week in Norfolk's federal court, the lawsuit claims principal Latesha Wade-Jenkins and the city's school system violated federal disability law.

Norfolk native Tatiana Blount, formerly known as Tavion Blount, was 16 when she began attending Lake Taylor High School in September 2021 as a ninth-grader.

In early 2022, Blount began transitioning and identifying as a woman, including changing her preferred pronouns and the way she dressed, the lawsuit says.

During lunch or bathroom breaks, on the school bus and in between classes, the lawsuit says Blount's peers persistently bullied her, and at times sexually harassed and physically assaulted her for her transgender identity.

Students called her "man" or "sir," and made hurtful comments about her body, the lawsuit says, Some students touched her chest or torso, and groped her in hallways.

A peer who wasn't a classmate showed up in her class to threaten her, and another time a peer followed her into the bathroom to interrogate her about her body. On the school bus, the lawsuit says several students began to make hurtful comments which escalated to a student pulling at Blount's shirt, exposing her chest.

The lawsuit says Blount's mother, Cynthia Smith, reported the harassment to the school's principal, who responded that there was nothing the school could do.

Wade-Jenkins, the lawsuit claims, told Smith her daughter was one of several students at the school who faced similar issues. Therefore, although Smith persistently requested that her daughter be supervised by an adult in between instruction, Wade-Jenkins said that wouldn't be possible.

Instead, the lawsuit says Wade-Jenkins suggested Blount transfer.

The abuse reached its peak in October 2022, when several students made derogatory comments about Blount's gender and began to punch and kick her. For several minutes, Blount lost consciousness while students continued to hit her in the body and head as she lay on the ground.

School officials, the lawsuit says, did not seek medical treatment for Blount who later spent the night in the emergency room. Testing determined the assault resulted in permanent brain injury, as well as injuries across Blount's entire body.

Two days prior to the assault, Smith found that a student had posted on social media that they planned to "jump" Blount, the lawsuit states. Wade-Jenkins was warned about the threat, but did not take steps to prevent it.

Blount stopped attending high school after the October 2022 incident.

A spokesperson for Norfolk Public Schools declined to comment about the lawsuit.

Blount's transgender identity stems from gender dysphoria, wrote Carteia Basnight, Blount's lawyer, that qualifies her as an individual with a disability protected under the American Disabilities Act.

The federal law requires that public entities make accommodations to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to public goods – including voting, health care, social services and education.

It's the same law that requires public schools to build ramps or elevators to ensure students who use wheelchairs can move about a building as non-wheelchair users can.

The 2022 Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Williams v. Kincaid held that gender dysphoria – a medical diagnosis characterized by impairment resulting from a mismatch between a person's gender identity and the sex they are assigned at birth – may qualify as a disability under the ADA.

Kesha Williams is a transgender woman who sued Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, a nurse and a deputy after she was housed in the jail's male unit, denied her hormone medications and repeatedly misgendered.

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