Washington
School districts across the country are split on how to accommodate transgender students amid conflicting guidance from courts, the federal government and, in some cases, state legislatures that have passed laws requiring people to use public restrooms that match the sex on their birth certificates.
The justices accepted a petition from the School Board of Gloucester County, Virginia, seeking to overturn a lower court’s order that 17-year-old Gavin Grimm, who was born female but identifies as male, be allowed to use the boys’ restroom during his senior year of high school.
In August, the Supreme Court voted, 5-3, to temporarily stay that lower court’s ruling while it remained on appeal. In that order granting the stay, Justice Stephen Breyer said he was joining the conservative justices as a “courtesy” that would preserve the status quo while the court considered whether to accept the case.
It is the most high-profile case the eight-member court has accepted since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. The case will not be heard until next year, and it is unclear whether Scalia’s seat will be filled by then.
In an interview on Friday, Grimm said it was unfair that he will continue to be barred from the boys’ bathroom at Gloucester High until the case is decided. He said he tries to avoid going to the bathroom altogether at school but uses the nurse’s bathroom when necessary.
“It means I’m going to have to spend another school year where I should be focused on college plans and prom and graduation … not able to use the bathroom at my school,” Grimm said.
Grimm, referred to as G.G. in court papers, came out as a transgender boy in his freshman year of high school and, as a result of hormone therapy, has a deep voice and facial hair, his lawyers told the court.
“We’re prepared to make our case to the court and to make sure the Supreme Court and people in general see Gavin as who he is and see trans kids across the country for who they are,” said Grimm’s attorney, Joshua Block of the American Civil Liberties Union. Grimm “is not trying to dismantle sex-segregated restrooms. He’s just trying to use them.”
Troy Andersen, chairman of the Gloucester County School Board, said in a statement that the board is “grateful that the Supreme Court has granted the School Board’s petition in this difficult case.”
Grimm sued the board, alleging that its policy — requiring that students use bathrooms corresponding with their “biological sex” — is discriminatory and violates his civil rights.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit sided with him in April, ruling that his case could move forward. It deferred to President Obama’s administration’s position that Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in public schools, protects the rights of transgender students to use school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
A month after the 4th Circuit decision, the U.S. Education Department issued that same guidance to the rest of the nation’s public schools.
The move sparked a backlash and a lawsuit by several states, which argued that the administration had overstepped its authority. A federal judge in north Texas issued a preliminary injunction in August, meaning schools do not have to follow the department’s guidance.
Transgender students say using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity is a civil right and critical to protect their well-being.