The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled yesterday that Glouster County, Virginia, transgender teen is entitled to use a school restroom based on his gender identity.
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Parents, of course, are the priority stakeholders in their children’s health and safety at school.
Grimm is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.
In a public statement the student said she felt “vindicated” by the newest ruling. “With this decision, we hope that schools and legislators will finally get the message that excluding transgender kids from the restrooms is unlawful sex discrimination”.
Matt Sharp of the non-profit, Alliance Defending Freedom, said that “The Fourth Circuit decision is truly unprecedented”. “After considering the opinions of the 4th Circuit panel, it is the school boards’ unanimous decision to file a petition for an en banc hearing with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals”, read a board issued statement.
Grimm sued Gloucester County School Board for sex discrimination under the 1972 Title IX Act.
The decision is key for several reasons. That’s what the argument in Virginia was all about: did a local school board violate Title IX by requiring students to use the bathroom corresponding to their birth certificate.
Brook says the ACLU is committed to seeking redress for the LGBT community to make sure HB 2 doesn’t have any more of a harmful impact on those communities.
Recently, North Carolina and MS also adopted similar laws that opponents say are discriminatory to people who are lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender. Cooper has called on McCrory to support repeal of the measure, and a recent poll showed the attorney general taking a six-point lead amid mounting criticism of the North Carolina law. “It will be influential in other circuits”.
So could Tuesday’s ruling pave the way for an amendment to include “gender identity” in Title IX? “It is not apparent to us, however, that the truth of these propositions undermines the conclusion we reach regarding the level of deference due to the department’s interpretation of its own regulations”.
Judge Paul Niemeyer was the lone dissenter in the 2-1 ruling. The third judge dissented on both decisions.
“People need to wake up: Roy Cooper, Barack Obama and two unelected federal judges are on the verge of completing their radical social reengineering of our society by forcing middle school-aged girls to share school locker rooms with boys”, said Republican state Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger. A rural Virginia school board’s discriminatory policy is headed down the toilet, exactly where it belongs.
Because the lower court judge has not yet decided the crux of the Grimm case given their instructions in the Tuesday ruling, the appellate court could decide to wait until that happens before any further review.
Grimm told The Pilot that he started refusing to wear girls’ clothing by age 6.
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The amicus brief argues that Title IX applies only to biological sex, not to gender identity at odds with one’s biological sex.
