Mayor Ed Murray’s office announced on Thursday that Seattle, along with dozens of cities, is supporting a transgender student’s case in an Amicus brief, which is a legal document filed in court by someone who has a strong interest in the matter.
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For the past several years, the Obama administration had energetically enforced its view that the phrase, in the law known as Title IX, does apply to bias against transgender students in schools or colleges that receive federal funds.
“Delaying resolution of the question will only lead to further harm, confusion, and protracted litigation for transgender students and school districts around the country”, he said.
“Every child deserves an opportunity to succeed free of fear, anxiety, and threats of discrimination. The Board’s policy thus subjects [Grimm] to sex-stereotyping and gender-identity discrimination that limits his ability to enjoy the educational opportunities guaranteed to him by Title IX”.
Some of the 53 companies that signed the brief, such as Apple, Salesforce, Twitter and Microsoft, also recently spoke out for transgender rights after Donald Trump’s administration’s move to roll back federal protections for transgender students.
Citing Title IX, the letter from the Departments of Justice and Education said schools should not require a medical diagnosis, nor should they demand documentation reflecting the student’s gender identity before taking steps to protect transgender students – “even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections”.
In an amicus brief filed Thursday afternoon, 15 religious organizations and more than 1,800 individual faith leaders backed Grimm. Amici also believe that, in our diverse and pluralistic society, the civil rights of transgender persons must be addressed according to religiously neutral principles of equal protection under the law. Today we have the opportunity to reverse that history and put our Commonwealth on the right side of one of the most important issues of our time. “It is persons with faces and hearts, all of whom own the God-given birthright of equality and dignity”.
The Virginia case involves 12 House of Delegates districts in the central and southern part of the state that were drawn to include a minimum of 55% black voters. Those school administrators attest to their experience working in schools that already had transgender-inclusive policies in place long before Grimm filed his lawsuit.
You’d have to be living under a rock to at least not be somewhat informed about Gavin Grimm and his fight against Gloucester County Public School’s bathroom policy.
“The real world examples included in our brief demonstrate one simple truth: inclusive policies work”.
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Tomorrow, Liberty Counsel argues before the Virginia Supreme Court in Lafferty v. Fairfax, the challenge to the Fairfax County School Board regarding its illegal policy in which the board added “sexual orientation”, “gender identity”, and “gender expression” to its policy and student handbook.
