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[25 June 2013] - Parents of a 6-year-old transgender girl have won a victory in their fight for the daughter to use the girls' toilet in a public school. A Colorado civil rights panel has ruled that a suburban Colorado Springs school district likely discriminated against Coy Mathis when it prevented her from using the girls' bathroom. Coy Mathis's family raised the issue after school officials said the first-grader could use restrooms in either the teachers' lounge or in the nurse's office, but not the girl's bathroom at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain. Kathryn and Jeremy Mathis have said the district's decision would end up stigmatising their daughter, who they said had come out of her shell when they began to allow her to live as a girl, instead of a boy. Mrs Mathis, who has home-schooled her daughter since the dispute arose, said Coy is eager to return to school. "All we ever wanted was for Coy's school to treat her the same as other little girls," she said. "We are extremely happy that she now will be treated equally." The Colorado Division of Civil Rights found probable cause of discrimination in a letter dated June 18. The New York-based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced the ruling in favour of Coy on Sunday. Lawyers plan to explain the ruling Monday in Denver. Since they filed their complaint, the Mathises have moved to the Denver suburb of Aurora, and Coy was homeschooled. It wasn't immediately clear whether the family would enroll her in the new district. Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 has declined to discuss the case. The district, however, can seek arbitration or a public trial, said Cory Everett-Lozano, a spokeswoman with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. School districts in many states, including Colorado, allow transgender students to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. Sixteen states, including Colorado, have anti-discrimination laws that include transgender people. In Maine, the state's highest court heard arguments this month about whether school officials violated the rights of Nicole Maines, now 15, by requiring her to use a staff bathroom after there was a complaint about her using the girls' bathroom. The Mathises said Coy, a triplet, showed an early preference for things associated with girls. At five months, she took a pink blanket meant for her sister Lily. Later, she showed little interest in toy cars and boy clothes with pictures of sports, monsters and dinosaurs on them. She refused to leave the house if she had to wear boy clothes. They said she became depressed and withdrawn, telling her parents that she wanted to get "fixed" by a doctor. They said they later learned she had gender identity disorder — a condition in which someone identifies as the opposite gender. The Mathises said they decided to help Coy live as a girl and she came out of her shell. FURTHER INFORMATION: