SCOTUS sends transgender school bathroom case back to 4th Circuit
An appeal regarding bathroom rights for a transgender high school student was vacated and remanded by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday in light of the new presidential administration's position.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Virginia teenager Gavin Grimm, would have been the first U.S. Supreme Court case focused on transgender rights, the New York Times reports.
The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an April 2016 opinion (PDF) found that because the Gloucester County School District reserved the boys’ bathrooms for biological males, it violated his rights under Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972.
Shortly after President Donald Trump took office, his administration ended guidance from the Obama administration that directed schools to let transgender students choose which bathrooms they would use, the New York Times reported. However the administration has yet to issue new guidance on the issue.
Grimm, now 17, initially used the boys’ restroom at Gloucester High School, until the school board voted to change the policy, Bloomberg News reports. Since 2014 he usually uses the nurse’s restroom, according to the article, and the school added three-single user bathrooms.
More lawsuits regarding public bathrooms for transgender individuals are in the pipeline, the New York Times reports, including one out of North Carolina, that restricts bathroom use at government buildings.
