A Virginia high school has discriminated against a transgender student, by not letting him use the bathroom of his choice. That’s according to a federal appeals court in Richmond, in a ruling that could have nationwide implications.
Gavin Grimm looks like a normal 16-year-old boy. But he was born female, and his fight to use the boy’s restroom at his high school in Gloucester, is now making national headlines. He says, “I can tell you I didn’t set out to make waves, I set out to use the bathroom.”
Grimm’s case is now a legal precedent in much of the mid-atlantic -- including in North Carolina, where a controversial new law bans transgender people from using the bathrooms they’d like. The case is also likely to have an influence across the country, says Gail Deady with the ACLU. “Hopefully this will send a very strong message to schools across the country // that transgender students should be treated just like other student and shouldn’t be excluded from restrooms just because they’re transgender,” says Deady.
Deady says the ruling from the 4th Circuit sets out guidance that discrimination based on gender identity, is the same as discrimination based on sex -- and therefore, against federal law. She says, “Now that that’s been clarified, the rest is more just narrowing down the facts and determining whether the law compels the school board to stop enforcing its policy based on the guidance from the 4th Circuit today.”
So using that guidance, a Virginia court will look at Gavin’s case again -- making the final determination on what bathroom he can use for the rest of high school.
