The gender equity nonprofit Gender Justice sued Swift County and the Minnesota Department of Corrections Wednesday on behalf of a transgender teenage girl who was placed in a state-licensed group home that did not affirm her gender.

The lawsuit, filed in Ramsey County District Court, alleges that Swift County officials and the Minnesota Department of Corrections violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution by forcing the girl to stay in boys’ facilities, where she was subject to bullying and harassment on the basis of her gender identity. 

The Minnesota Human Rights Act protects Minnesotans from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender — including gender identity — in employment, housing, education, public benefits and more. The Department of Corrections and its Commissioner Paul Schnell are defendants in the lawsuit because the department licensed the group home in question. 

When the child, who is identified only by the initials S.R. in the lawsuit, entered foster care in 2020 at the age of 12, she told her mother she did not want to stay in a boys’ home because she was a transgender girl. The mother then requested that her child be placed in an LGBTQ-friendly home.

The lawsuit alleges that Swift County instead placed her in a group home that assigned children sleeping arrangements and activities based on biological sex rather than gender. 

Boys in the home called the child slurs and harassed her by repeatedly asking her questions about her genitals, according to the complaint. When the child and her mother requested an alternative placement, their request was denied. 

“Transgender youth in Minnesota have the right to safe and affirming care, including in the foster care system,” said Sara Jane Baldwin, senior staff attorney at Gender Justice, in a press release. “When a foster care facility discriminates against a child and the agencies overseeing it fail to act, that’s a violation of the law and a betrayal of public trust.”

LGBTQ youth are over-represented in the child welfare system, accounting for approximately 20% of foster youth nationwide, according to a report by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The report found that LGBTQ youth are twice as likely as non-LGBTQ children to report mistreatment in out-of-home care. 

The complaint notes that after the girl returned to her mother’s custody in June 2021, the child’s therapist reported that her “aggressive behaviors probably occurred due to a placement in a facility that was not set up for transgender youth.”

A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Corrections said the department does not comment on ongoing litigation. Swift County officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.