A leading transgender rights group on Tuesday announced that it had filed a discrimination complaint in Colorado on behalf of Coy Mathis, a six-year-old transgender girl who has been barred from using the girls' bathroom at her elementary school.

The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) filed the complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division after Coy's parents, Jeremy and Kathryn Mathis, were told in mid-December by the Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 that Coy could no longer use the girls' bathrooms that she had been using for the past year at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, where she is a first-grader.

Coy's parent's have removed her from the school until the situation is resolved.

“We want Coy to have the same educational opportunities as every other Colorado student,” Kathryn Mathis said. “Her school should not be singling her out for mistreatment just because she is transgender.”

Jeremy Mathis said he feared sending his daughter back to school.

“We have five children and we love them all very much,” he said. “We want Coy to return to school to be with her teachers, her friends, and her siblings. But we are afraid to send her back until we know that the school is going to treat her fairly. She is still just six years old, and we do not want one of our daughter's earliest experiences to be our community telling her she's not good enough.”

Michael Silverman, executive director of TLDEF, added: “By forcing Coy to use a different bathroom than all the other girls, Coy's school is targeting her for stigma, bullying and harassment. Through the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, Coloradans have made it clear that they want all Colorado children to have a fair and equal chance in school.”

“Coy's school has the opportunity to turn this around and teach Coy's classmates a valuable lesson about friendship, respect and basic fairness,” he said.

The lawsuit was announced after the Mathis' appeared on Katie Couric's daytime talk show, Katie.