If the Gloucester County school board’s petition for the Supreme Court to hear the case is denied, the stay will terminate automatically, and Grimm will be allowed to use the boys’ bathroom. In Kansas, for example, the state’s school board of education ruled in direct defiance of the directive to let districts and schools decide whether or not to allow transgender bathroom use.
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– Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has placed a temporary hold on bullying prevention regulation pertaining to transgender students following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
This is the latest development on both Grimm’s case and a wider debate over transgender bathroom usage in schools.
That ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the first by an appeals court to find that transgender students are protected under federal laws that bar sex-based discrimination. Initially the school’s policy had been struck down by a Virginia appeals court, but the Supreme Court has voted 5-4 to temporarily stay that decision until they can issue a fuller ruling. “In the meantime, I encourage school districts to work towards accommodating all students and keep the best interest of transgender students in mind- especially given the duress that many transgender students are experiencing under HB2”.
“Whether someone thinks the underlying decision is right or wrong, what’s disappointing is the notion that simply allowing someone to use the bathroom would result in a form of irreparable harm”, Block said.
Grimm’s supporters and other transgender students believe this is a violation of Title IX, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex.
The school board then asked the Court to stay the ruling pending their appeal.
In June, a federal court judge ruled that Grimm could use the boys facilities at Gloucester High School in Virginia.
Grimm’s attorney, Joshua Block of the ACLU, said, “Gavin will have to begin another school year isolated from [her] peers and stigmatized by the Gloucester County school board”.
Among the issues that are central to the Grimm case and similar disputes in North Carolina and elsewhere is whether the Obama administration acted lawfully in its interpretation of Title IX, which prohibits certain kinds of discrimination against students by state and local schools receiving federal funding. The case will go back to the federal appeals courts where it was in April. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan (all women… interesting) voted against maintaining the status quo. Grimm, born a female, identifies and lives as a male.
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In the case now before district court, Grimm’s lawyers have alleged that the Gloucester County restroom policy violates not only his rights under Title IX, but the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
