Federal Court Sides with Gavin Grimm, Affirming that Federal Law Protects Transgender Students

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A federal court today denied the Gloucester County School Board’s motion to dismiss a case brought by former student Gavin Grimm, holding that Title IX and the Constitution protect transgender students from being excluded from the common restrooms that align with their gender identity.

The court directed the parties to schedule a settlement conference within 30 days. The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia.

Joshua Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT &HIV Project, had this reaction:

“The district court’s ruling vindicates what Gavin has been saying from the beginning. Federal law protects Gavin and other students who are transgender from being stigmatized and excluded from using the same common restrooms that other boys and girls use. These sorts of discriminatory policies do nothing to protect privacy and only serve to harm and humiliate transgender students.”

Gavin Grimm had this reaction:

“I feel an incredible sense of relief. After fighting this policy since I was 15 years old, I finally have a court decision saying that what the Gloucester County School Board did to me was wrong and it was against the law. I was determined not to give up because I didn’t want any other student to have to suffer the same experience that I had to go through.”

For a link to the decision: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/gg-v-gloucester-order-denying-motion-dismiss-0

For more information about this case: https://www.aclu.org/cases/gg-v-gloucester-county-school-board