The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that ruled against a school district that provided gender-specific bathrooms and prevented transgender youth from using the bathroom of their choice.
The win is theoretical, since the person who filed the case was a sophomore at Glouster County High School when he filed the lawsuit against the school board in 2015. He had changed his gender identity three years earlier, when he was 12.
Gavin Grimm, now 22, was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. He said in a statement through the ACLU, “Being forced to use the nurse’s room, a private bathroom, and the girls’ room was humiliating for me, and having to go to out-of-the-way bathrooms severely interfered with my education. Trans youth deserve to use the bathroom in peace without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school boards and elected officials.”
When the Supreme Court declines to hear a case, it doesn’t set a precedent, but with the Fourth Circuit opinion standing, public schools in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina will be required to accommodate transgender youth in the bathrooms of their choice.
Grimm, who filed the suit in 2015, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. He was issued a replacement birth certificate by the state of Virginia, with his preferred gender as male and he has undergone major surgeries, including a double mastectomy.
Grimm is now a transgender activist and professional speaker represented by a talent agency. He can be booked for live or virtual speaking engagements for between $5,000 and $10,000, and now lives in Berkeley, Calif.
Read: Transgender indoctrination of young taking place at Alaska Native Heritage Center
