COLUMBIA, South Carolina (LifeSiteNews) — South Carolina has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to enforce its ban on men in women’s bathroom.
In an August 28 emergency appeal, South Carolina requested that the Supreme Court overturn a federal appeals court’s ruling that is blocking the bathroom policy from taking effect and is leaving women and girls vulnerable to predatory men.
The appeal pointed out that privacy is “especially important for school-aged children who are still developing mentally, physically, emotionally, and socially.”
“(A)sking them to expose their bodies to students of the opposite sex (or to be exposed to the bodies of the opposite sex) brings heightened levels of stress,” it continued.
The ban was introduced as a proviso in South Carolina’s fiscal year 2024-2025 budget and renewed for 2025-2026, effective July 1, 2025. It mandates that single-sex school bathrooms and locker rooms be used only by students matching their biological sex, with schools risking a 25% cut in state funding for non-compliance
Senate Bill 199, introduced by Senator Wes Climer, aims to codify the ban permanently. It is currently under committee review.
Already, nearly 20 states have bathroom bans in schools and some government buildings to protect women and children.
However, in August, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction against the ban after a gender-confused girl claimed she had a right to use male bathrooms in school. The 13-year-old girl had been suspended for using the boys’ restroom and faced potential expulsion.
While transgender activists claim they have a right to enter space regardless of their biological sex, critics have warn that forcing girls to share intimate facilities such as bathrooms, showers, or changing areas with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms or lockers by simply claiming transgender status.
In Virginia, for example, former Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent Scott Ziegler set off a national firestorm for allegedly covering up the rape of a female student by a “transgender” classmate in a girls bathroom due to its damaging implications for the LGBT movement. He was convicted in 2023 of “using his official position to retaliate against someone for exercising their rights” by firing a teacher who testified about the situation before a grand jury, but prosecutors eventually dropped charges relating to allegedly lying about having no knowledge of the situation at a school board meeting.
