Schools declare support for transgender teen Gavin Grimm in landmark lawsuit

Kristine Solomon
Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who graduated form Gloucester County High School in Virginia, is suing the school board for not allowing him to use the boys’ restroom. (Photo: Steve Helber/AP)
Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who graduated form Gloucester County High School in Virginia, is suing the school board for not allowing him to use the boys’ restroom. (Photo: Steve Helber/AP)

Four Northern Virginia schools have thrown their support behind a transgender teen who is in the midst of a years-long lawsuit with the school board of Gloucester County in Virginia, which denied him the right to use the boys’ restroom.

The school boards of Alexandria and Falls Church as well as Fairfax and Arlington counties declared in court documents last month that they have formed a united front in defense of the now-19-year-old Gavin Grimm, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, who filed the lawsuit against the Gloucester School Board in 2015 with the help of the the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia.

The suit took aim at a school policy the teen saw as discriminatory, as it forced transgender students to use their own segregated “alternative private” bathroom, according to the ACLU. At the beginning of his sophomore year, Grimm — who was born female but identifies as male — and his mother notified Gloucester County High School of the teen’s gender identity in hopes of helping him “socially transition in all aspects of his life.”

Grimm was initially given permission to use the boys’ facilities, but after two months, the school board responded to several complaints from parents by adopting a new policy in December 2014 to segregate transgender students.

The teen’s ensuing legal battle even made its way to the Supreme Court, but in early 2017, before the court could hear Grimm’s case, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded a law that favored transgender students’ rights, according to The Root. The case was knocked back down to the lower court — U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia — and Grimm graduated high school that same year.

But leaving high school didn’t mean he planned on abandoning his ongoing lawsuit; it had already become a landmark case for the transgender student community and transformed Grimm into a public LGBTQ advocate and icon. The case is scheduled to go to trial in July with the lower court.

The Northern Virginia school systems that are standing behind Grimm won’t be able to testify because they’re not formally involved with the case, so put their stance on the record as part of a “friend-of-the-court brief,” according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

In court documents, the schools said they feel they “must embrace the thousands of students in Virginia public schools who … identify as transgender.” Their input included recommendations, based on experience, for transgender students to use the bathrooms that correspond to their gender identities. They said the practice makes transgender students feel safer, and that they’ve never witnessed the privilege being abused.

“Male students, teachers and parents have not used the policy as a ruse to improperly access female restrooms,” says the brief given by the school boards. “Sex offenders have not exploited the policy to prey on children. Transgender students have not suffered greater stigma or trauma. Those fears have proved entirely unfounded.”

The four school boards supporting Grimm’s lawsuit currently support their own transgender students to the degree that they’re permitted, approving measures that prevent gender identity discrimination. Though the schools cannot guarantee the students access to the bathroom they want to use, they do try to accommodate students’ requests individually.

Grimm’s case even has the potential to influence future policies at the four Northern Virginia school districts, including Fairfax’s decision on whether or not to support a proposal first introduced in 2016, which would give students the right to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities instead of their “biological genders,” as the Gloucester County School Board’s policy dictates.

Arlington’s school system is working on a similar policy to Fairfax’s, and another of the districts, the Falls Church school system, has used gender-neutral bathrooms in an attempt to assimilate transgender students. The district also collaborates with students and parents “to come to an agreement on the best way to support the student,” according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

As his case awaits trial, Grimm is studying to become a middle school teacher in California, and the Northern Virginia school systems are steeling themselves to defend his rights and those of all transgender students.

Fairfax School Board member Ilryong Moon recently spoke on behalf of the board’s support of Grimm, telling the Washington Post, “It’s a perfect opportunity for us to show support for Grimm” and to “support all students of different backgrounds.”

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