Virginia Trans Teen Wins Years-Long "Bathroom" Court Battle

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Trans Teen Wins Years-Long “Bathroom” Court Battle
August 9, 2019 Civil Rights, LGBT News

Just in from the ACLU:

The U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled in favor of ACLU client Gavin Grimm, in his request for summary judgement in a sex discrimination lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board.

Statement from Gavin Grimm: “It is such a relief to achieve this closure and vindication from the court after four years of fighting not just for myself, but for trans youth across America. I promise to continue to advocate for as long as it takes for everyone to be able to live their authentic lives freely, in public, and without harassment and discrimination.”

In 2015,when Gavin was a 15-year-old sophomore at Gloucester High School, the school board adopted a policy preventing him from using bathroom facilities consistent with his gender identity. The ACLU and the ACLU of Virginia subsequently sued on his behalf.

The judge heard arguments relating to the ACLU’s motion for summary judgement on July 23. In the ruling issued today, Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen declared that the school board’s policy violated Mr. Grimm’s rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 from the time it was adopted, through his graduation.

BREAKING: A federal judge in Virginia has ruled a school board’s transgender bathroom ban discriminated against a former student, Gavin Grimm.

Link to tweet

Virginia transgender bathroom case: Judge favors ex-student
By BEN FINLEY
yesterday

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal judge in Virginia ruled Friday that a school board’s transgender bathroom ban discriminated against a former student, Gavin Grimm, the latest in a string of decisions nationwide that favor transgender students who faced similar policies.

The order issued by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen in Norfolk is a major victory for the American Civil Liberties Union and for Grimm. His four-year lawsuit was once a federal test case and had come to embody the debate about transgender student rights. ... The issue remains far from settled as a patchwork of differing policies governs schools across the nation. More court cases are making their way through the courts.

The Gloucester County School Board’s policy required Grimm, a transgender male, to use girls’ restrooms or private bathrooms. The judge wrote that Grimm’s rights were violated under the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause as well as under Title IX, the federal policy that protects against gender-based discrimination.

? (T)here is no question that the Board’s policy discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender noncomformity,” Allen wrote. ... “Under the policy, all students except for transgender students may use restrooms corresponding with their gender identity,” she continued. “Transgender students are singled out, subjected to discriminatory treatment, and excluded from spaces where similarly situated students are permitted to go. ”

Allen’s ruling requires the school board to update the gender on Grimm’s high school transcripts.
....

Jeff E. Schapiro Retweeted

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a school board's transgender bathroom ban discriminated against former student Gavin Grimm.

Link to tweet