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| Transgender Virginia teen's bathroom case can go forward, appeals court rules | Transgender Virginia teen's bathroom case can go forward, appeals court rules |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| In a significant victory for transgender rights advocates, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a Virginia school board is violating anti-discrimination laws by barring a transgender boy from using the boys’ restroom. | |
| The ruling makes the fourth circuit court of appeals the highest court in the country to weigh in on the fight for access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other spaces segregated by gender. North Carolina belongs to the same circuit – meaning Tuesday’s decision could have an influence on a separate lawsuit challenging the embattled anti-LGBT law in North Carolina, HB2. | The ruling makes the fourth circuit court of appeals the highest court in the country to weigh in on the fight for access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other spaces segregated by gender. North Carolina belongs to the same circuit – meaning Tuesday’s decision could have an influence on a separate lawsuit challenging the embattled anti-LGBT law in North Carolina, HB2. |
| The Department of Justice and the Department of Education have both ruled that under Title IX, a federal law banning gender discrimination, schools must allow transgender students to have unfettered access to bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. | The Department of Justice and the Department of Education have both ruled that under Title IX, a federal law banning gender discrimination, schools must allow transgender students to have unfettered access to bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. |
| But a growing number of schools are defying those mandates, resulting in court battles like this one. | But a growing number of schools are defying those mandates, resulting in court battles like this one. |
| Related: From Jim Crow to transgender ban: the bathroom as battleground for civil rights | Related: From Jim Crow to transgender ban: the bathroom as battleground for civil rights |
| “Today’s fourth circuit decision is a vindication for Gavin and a reinforcement of the Department of Education’s policy,” said Joshua Block, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “With this decision, we hope that schools and legislators will finally get the message that excluding transgender kids from the restrooms is unlawful sex discrimination.” | “Today’s fourth circuit decision is a vindication for Gavin and a reinforcement of the Department of Education’s policy,” said Joshua Block, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “With this decision, we hope that schools and legislators will finally get the message that excluding transgender kids from the restrooms is unlawful sex discrimination.” |
| A three-judge panel from the fourth circuit court of appeals handed down the split decision as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the Gloucester County school board. Gavin Grimm, a transgender high school student, sued the school board in a lower court for access to the boys’ bathrooms and lost. | A three-judge panel from the fourth circuit court of appeals handed down the split decision as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the Gloucester County school board. Gavin Grimm, a transgender high school student, sued the school board in a lower court for access to the boys’ bathrooms and lost. |
| Grimm has asked the fourth circuit to hear an appeal of his case. Tuesday’s ruling orders the lower court to reconsider his petition to access the boys’ bathroom while the case is ongoing, but it is not the final decision in Grimm’s case. | |
| Still, legal experts consider the decision to be a strong signal of which way the three-judge panel will lean if the court hears his case. The fourth circuit is a moderate court, with Democratic appointees filling more than half its seats but a strong minority made up of staunch conservatives. | |
| “The uncontroverted facts before the district court demonstrate that as a result of the Board’s restroom policy, [Grimm] experiences daily psychological harm that puts him at risk for long-term psychological harm,” wrote Judge Andre Davis in his concurring opinion. | |
| Grimm, a high school junior in Virginia’s Gloucester County, began to transition when he was a sophomore. He went by his new legal name at school, and school documents identified him as male. Gloucester high school also allowed Grimm to use the men’s restroom for seven weeks, according to records, without any incidents or objections from fellow students. | Grimm, a high school junior in Virginia’s Gloucester County, began to transition when he was a sophomore. He went by his new legal name at school, and school documents identified him as male. Gloucester high school also allowed Grimm to use the men’s restroom for seven weeks, according to records, without any incidents or objections from fellow students. |
| But complaints about his bathroom use flooded in from students’ parents as well as many adults who didn’t have children in Gloucester County schools. A series of vitriolic public meetings moved the Gloucester County school board to reverse its policy. | But complaints about his bathroom use flooded in from students’ parents as well as many adults who didn’t have children in Gloucester County schools. A series of vitriolic public meetings moved the Gloucester County school board to reverse its policy. |
| At the start of his junior year, Grimm was barred from the boys’ bathroom and forced to use standalone unisex bathrooms the school installed specifically for him. Grimm and his parents attended and spoke at the public meetings, where speakers referred to him as a “young lady” and a “freak”, and compared him to a dog. | At the start of his junior year, Grimm was barred from the boys’ bathroom and forced to use standalone unisex bathrooms the school installed specifically for him. Grimm and his parents attended and spoke at the public meetings, where speakers referred to him as a “young lady” and a “freak”, and compared him to a dog. |
| Grimm sued the school for discrimination in June 2015. | Grimm sued the school for discrimination in June 2015. |
| In court filings, the school has argued that Grimm is “biologically and anatomically a female” and “has not provided medical evidence or medical testimony that [he] is a boy or that he has male chromosomes”. Grimm’s court filings say he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria – a condition in which a person’s gender identity does not match the gender assigned at birth – in April 2014. | In court filings, the school has argued that Grimm is “biologically and anatomically a female” and “has not provided medical evidence or medical testimony that [he] is a boy or that he has male chromosomes”. Grimm’s court filings say he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria – a condition in which a person’s gender identity does not match the gender assigned at birth – in April 2014. |
| Gloucester County schools did not return the Guardian’s requests for comment leading up to the decision. | Gloucester County schools did not return the Guardian’s requests for comment leading up to the decision. |
| In September, US district Judge Robert Doumar dismissed Grimm’s Title IX lawsuit. Doumar, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, ruled that Gloucester high school could force Grimm to use unisex bathrooms because Title IX “allows schools to maintain separate bathrooms based on sex as long as the bathrooms for each sex are comparable”, he wrote. “Under any fair reading, ‘sex’ … clearly includes biological sex” that individuals are assigned at birth. | |
| LGBT groups around the country have been anxious for the results of Grimm’s appeal. “Since this is the first court of appeals to decide the issue, it will be a bellwether one way or the other and will probably be one of the primary legal authorities that people look to in the immediate future to see where courts are headed on this issue,” Block, the ACLU attorney, told reporters ahead of the ruling. The ACLU is representing Grimm in the lawsuit. | LGBT groups around the country have been anxious for the results of Grimm’s appeal. “Since this is the first court of appeals to decide the issue, it will be a bellwether one way or the other and will probably be one of the primary legal authorities that people look to in the immediate future to see where courts are headed on this issue,” Block, the ACLU attorney, told reporters ahead of the ruling. The ACLU is representing Grimm in the lawsuit. |
| Depending on the outcome of the case in the fourth circuit, the ruling could have implications for similar disputes anywhere in the fourth circuit. The fourth circuit includes Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. | |
| Grimm’s is one of several transgender rights lawsuits currently roiling the federal court. In March, a transgender student and a transgender employee of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill challenged HB2, the state’s highly controversial law that restricted access to public facilities and initially banned anti-bias protections for LGBT individuals. | Grimm’s is one of several transgender rights lawsuits currently roiling the federal court. In March, a transgender student and a transgender employee of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill challenged HB2, the state’s highly controversial law that restricted access to public facilities and initially banned anti-bias protections for LGBT individuals. |
| In Michigan, the parents of a 14-year-old transgender girl has filed a lawsuit against four Detroit-area schools for failing to acknowledge their daughter’s gender identity and protect her from harassment. That case is still in its early stages. | In Michigan, the parents of a 14-year-old transgender girl has filed a lawsuit against four Detroit-area schools for failing to acknowledge their daughter’s gender identity and protect her from harassment. That case is still in its early stages. |
| Seamus Johnson, a transgender man, sued the University of Pittsburgh after the school barred him from the men’s restrooms and locker rooms, eventually expelling him. At one point, Johnson was arrested for appearing in the men’s locker room. A district judge ruled against Johnson, who appealed to the third circuit court of appeals. But Johnson and the school recently told the third circuit that they had reached a tentative agreement. | Seamus Johnson, a transgender man, sued the University of Pittsburgh after the school barred him from the men’s restrooms and locker rooms, eventually expelling him. At one point, Johnson was arrested for appearing in the men’s locker room. A district judge ruled against Johnson, who appealed to the third circuit court of appeals. But Johnson and the school recently told the third circuit that they had reached a tentative agreement. |
| Medical and child psychology experts have consistently told courts that recognizing transgender students’ identity is critical to their mental wellbeing. In a brief support Grimm’s lawsuit, a number of leading medical societies in the study of transgender health wrote: “For transgender students, being in a school that affirms and supports their gender identity is critical to ensuring that they too can experience adolescence in a healthy and constructive manner.” | |
| “A school that fails to support its transgender students risks severely hampering their development and long-term wellbeing,” the brief continued. “Refusing to respect and affirm a transgender student’s gender identity communicates a clear, negative message: there is something wrong with the student that warrants this unequal treatment.” | “A school that fails to support its transgender students risks severely hampering their development and long-term wellbeing,” the brief continued. “Refusing to respect and affirm a transgender student’s gender identity communicates a clear, negative message: there is something wrong with the student that warrants this unequal treatment.” |
| Before he transitioned, Grimm experienced anxiety and depression severe enough that he finished the second half of his freshman year in home school. | Before he transitioned, Grimm experienced anxiety and depression severe enough that he finished the second half of his freshman year in home school. |
| “When I came out as male to my friends and my family and the community, it was the beginning of a radical change in my quality of life for the better,” he said in January, just before the appeal. “I was just trying to embrace my new freedom to be myself.” Being barred from the boys’ bathroom, he said, is “humiliating”. The public meetings were “dehumanizing”. “I was talked about as if I was not even a person,” Grimm recalled. |