Panelists: Jess Braverman, Irina Vaynerman, David Aron
Moderated by Charlie O’Meara
On September 28, 2020, the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued its landmark decision in N.H. v. Anoka-Hennepin School District No. 11, 950 N.W. 3d 553 (Minn. App. 2020), which ruled that Minnesota schools must allow students to use locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. According to the case’s undisputed facts, N.H. had used the boys locker room at Coon Rapids Senior High School without issue after he joined the boys swim team during the 2015-2016 school year. The following year, the school district required him to use an entirely separate and segregated locker room and threatened to discipline him if he used the “wrong” room.
N.H., represented by Gender Justice, the ACLU, and Stinson Leonard Street, filed suit against the Anoka-Hennepin School District alleging that the district violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which prohibits gender identity discrimination. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights joined the lawsuit as a co-plaintiff. The court held that students have a right to use a locker room that aligns with their gender identity under the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Minnesota Constitution.
This panel will explore the legal significance and breadth of the N.H. opinion. They will share an overview of the case, an analysis of the court’s opinion, and the impact it will have on attorneys, schools, and Minnesota’s students. The panelists will end their discussion by noting significant LGBTQ cases moving forward in Minnesota and across the country, and will take questions from the audience.
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Jess Braverman
Jess Braverman is the Legal Director at Gender Justice. Jess came to Gender Justice from the Hennepin County Public Defender’s office. After representing hundreds of clients in felony matters in the Fourth District, she spearheaded the office’s Special Litigation Unit, where she focused on racial profiling in policing. Jess attended NYU Law School, where she was an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellow with a focus on LGBTQ rights. After graduating, Jess worked at the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Project, representing young people in delinquency and child protection cases in Brooklyn, New York.
Irina Vaynerman
Irina Vaynerman is the Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Irina has experience working in a variety of civil rights organizations across the country, focusing on racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and immigrant rights. She is proud to call Minnesota her home.
Irina has worked with several nonprofits, and was an attorney with a civil rights law firm in Detroit, Michigan, where she litigated statutory and constitutional anti-discrimination claims. Most recently, Irina was an attorney at Faegre Baker Daniels, LLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School. After graduating from law school, Irina served as a federal law clerk for the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
David Aron
David Aron is General Counsel at Education Minnesota, where he advises the leadership of the organization and oversees legal services for the union’s 86,000 members, who work in early childhood, K-12, and higher education. In addition to representing members in labor, employment, and other civil matters, Education Minnesota’s legal department provides training to its members on a variety of labor, employment, education and civil rights issues and frequently submits amicus curiae briefs on these topics. Aron is a graduate of Bowdoin College (B.A.) Brooklyn College (M.A. in Teaching) and the University of Minnesota Law School.
Charlie O’Meara
Charlie O’Meara (he/him/his) is a 3L at the University of Minnesota Law School. He currently serves as Legal Services Director of UMN OutLaw and on the MLBA Board of Directors. Charlie’s passion for disability justice, mental health, and accessibility led him to co-found the Minnesota Accessibility Coalition, the law school’s disability affinity group.
Charlie is interested in civil litigation, with a focus on civil rights and consumer protection. As a 2L, he helped craft a class action lawsuit in the UMN Law Consumer Protection Clinic. He also organized and facilitated a name change clinic hosted by UMN OutLaw and Robins Kaplan. Charlie will compete in the Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition this spring. He was appointed to the competition team after winning both best oralist and second-best brief in the 2020 Maynard Pirsig Moot Court tournament. Charlie enjoys teaching his 1L Legal Writing students crucial research, writing, and oral advocacy skills in his role as a Legal Writing Student Instructor.
Charlie received his B.A. in Sociology from Grinnell College in 2017 and will receive his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2021.
