The Supreme Court has chosen to send a Virginia transgender student’s bathroom case back to the lower court after President Donald Trump’s administration decided to do away with a directive from former President Barack Obama that stated students in schools can use which bathroom they want.
The court should have heard the case later this month. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit had decided to allow transgender teen Gavin Grimm to use the bathroom of her choice.
From The Hill:
The court asked both parties in the case to submit their views on how the case should proceed since the lower court had deferred to the Obama-era guidance.Both sides had said the justices should hear the case as planned.
The lower court “had relied on the federal government’s guidance” on the issue.
Grimm is the center of the case. Born a female, she identifies as a male. She even changed her name and received a new birth certificate that identifies her as a female. In 2014, the Gloucester County School Board ruled that students must use the bathroom of their birth sex. In other words, Grimm should use the female bathroom.
Grimm insisted that the school board’s decision discriminated her “in violation of Title IX anti-discrimination laws.”
Then the Fourth Circuit decided that “the Obama administration guidance should be given deference because federal anti-discrimination laws are ambiguous when it comes to ‘sex.'”
This probably means Grimm will have to use the female bathroom until she graduates:
For Grimm, the order means that he probably will graduate with the issue unresolved and his ability to use the boys’ bathroom blocked by a policy of the Gloucester County school board. Although he won a court order allowing him to use the boys’ bathroom, the Supreme Court put it on hold last August, before the school year began.”This is disappointing for trans kids across the country and for Gavin, who are now going to be held in limbo for another year or two,” said Joshua Block, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represents Grimm. “But Title IX means the same thing today as it meant yesterday. Lower courts already have held that it protects trans kids.”
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