WASHINGTON -- Attorneys for a transgender teen who sued his school board for barring him from the boys restroom said Thursday that they plan to continue to press his case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
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The decision comes a day after President Donald Trump's administration withdrew federal guidelines on transgender students that had buoyed the teen's lawsuit.
Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Gavin Grimm, 17, said they believe federal laws barring discrimination on the basis of sex apply to transgender people regardless of the administration's position on the matter.
They argue that in light of the fresh directive from Trump's Cabinet -- which on Wednesday revoked guidance instructing schools to let transgender students use the restroom of their choice -- it is imperative that the high court rule on the merits of Grimm's case.
"If anything, the confusion caused by this recent action by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education only underscore the need for the Supreme Court to bring some clarity here," ACLU attorney Joshua Block said in a teleconference with reporters Thursday morning. Grimm's case is scheduled for oral arguments March 28 in Washington.
Grimm sued the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia two years ago after it barred him from using the boys bathroom. Even though he had recently had his birth certificate amended to describe him as male, his school required him to use a separate single-stall restroom, which he has argued unfairly stigmatizes him.
The guidance from President Barack Obama's administration was issued a month after Grimm won a victory at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which deferred to the Obama administration's position on transgender student rights, citing case law that gives deference to the executive branch's interpretation and application of federal rules. The Supreme Court could decide to return the case to the lower court, or it could decide to rule more broadly on whether federal Title IX protects the right of transgender students to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity. Gloucester County and Grimm have asked the court to rule on that broader question.
The attorneys' remarks came as fallout continued from the Trump administration's decision to roll back guidance from the last two years of Obama's presidency, policies that aimed to explain that transgender students have specific protections under Title IX, a federal law that bars gender discrimination in the nation's schools. The Obama administration's interpretation of that law required schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice, regardless of the sex listed on their birth certificates.
In a letter to public school administrators Wednesday, officials with the Justice and Education departments withdrew that guidance, writing that they want to "further and more completely consider the legal issues involved," particularly the role of states and individual school districts in setting education policy.
Some religious conservatives, privacy advocates and officials in Republican-leaning states immediately praised the Trump administration for taking steps that they hope will restore power to the states and that they say will help protect the safety and privacy of nontransgender students.
Members of the Gloucester County School Board also praised the decision. "The Gloucester County School Board is pleased that the federal government has withdrawn the opinion letter at issue in its case," board chairman Charles Records said in a statement. "We look forward to explaining to the Supreme Court why this development underscores that the board's common-sense restroom and locker room policy is legal under federal law."
Information for this article was contributed by Sandhya Somashekhar, Emma Brown and Moriah Balingit of The Washington Post; and by David Crary of The Associated Press.
A Section on 02/24/2017