School's transgender bathroom ban 'discriminatory', says federal judge

Activists are celebrating after a federal judge ruled a school’s decision not to allow a transgender student to use the men’s toilet was discriminatory.

In the latest twist to a legal battle that has lasted four years, a judge in Virginia said the Gloucester County School Board erred when it refused to let Gavin Grimm’s use the men’s facilities after his mother informed the school he was transitioning to a male identity.

For several months, the student, then aged 15, used the men’s toilets without incident. However, amid reported complaints from parents of other students, the school changed course and said the teenager had to use the girls’ restrooms, or else private bathrooms.

Judge Arenda Wright Allen said the student’s rights were violated under the constitution’s equal protection clause, as well as under Title IX, the federal policy that protects against gender-based discrimination.

“There is no question that the board's policy discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender noncomformity,” she wrote.

“Under the policy, all students except for transgender students may use restrooms corresponding with their gender identity.

“Transgender students are singled out, subjected to discriminatory treatment, and excluded from spaces where similarly situated students are permitted to go.”

After the ruling, Mr Grim, who is now aged 20 and is studying to be a teacher in California, said the ruling showed that “discrimination is not legal in America”.

Yet, he said the school board could challenge the decision.

“We deserve equal rights,” said Mr Grimm. “I’m going to be doing what I can to fight.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had supported Mr Grimm and his family in its challenge. Reports suggest that despite last Friday’s ruling in the Virginia city of Norfolk, the issue remains far from settled, as a patchwork of differing policies governs schools across the nation. More court cases are making their way through the courts.

The school board has yet to comment on the ruling. Its lawyers previously argued gender was not a “societal construct” and that Mr Grimm had not undergone sex reassignment surgery and should not be allowed to use the boys’ restroom.

Mr Grimm sued after the school in 2014 mandated that students use restrooms aligned with their “biological genders”. He argued that the policy violated the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause as well as Title IX, the law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in schools that receive federal money.

The case ascended to the Supreme Court, which was scheduled to hear it in spring 2017. But the justices returned the case to a lower federal court after the Trump administration reversed Obama-era guidance that directed schools to allow students to use restrooms that aligned with their gender identity.

Additional reporting by Associated Press