SCHOOL BOARD TO GO ON RECORD SUPPORTING TRANSGENDER STUDENT IN VIRGINIA CASE

Gavin Grimm

Among the items on the school board agenda tonight is a resolution that puts the board on record supporting a transgender student in Virginia whose opposition to his high school's anti-transgender policy is going to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gavin Grimm, who identifies as male, attends the local high school in Gloucester, Va., according to an ACLU story on the case. It says he has been treated for severe gender dysphoria and informed the school that he would attend as a male at the start of his sophomore year in the fall of 2014.

But in December of that year, a new policy was instituted barring his use of the male restroom. He sued and the district court dismissed his suit, but he won on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in August 2016.  The local school district in Virginia has since appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the case in 2017. 

The South Orange Maplewood school board will consider the supportive resolution at tonight's meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. in the Columbia High School auditorium. It would formally join the school board in the Amicus Brief for Grimm.

The move comes just months after the board adopted a very broad transgender-rights policy for the district.

SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST TRANSGENDER STUDENT THE SCHOOL BOARD SUPPORTED

Gavin Grimm

The U.S. Supreme Court today vacated a lower court ruling that had favored a transgender student in Virginia, a case the Board of Education had gone on record supporting.

The school board in December 2016 voted unanimously to sign on to the amicus brief supporting Gavin Grimm, who identifies as male and attends the local high school in Gloucester, Va., according to an ACLU story on the case. 

It said he had been treated for severe gender dysphoria and informed the school that he would attend as a male at the start of his sophomore year in the fall of 2014.

But in December of that year, a new policy was instituted barring his use of the male restroom. He sued and the district court dismissed his suit, but he won on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in August 2016. The local school district in Virginia had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled today.

The ruling followed President Donald Trump's recent executive order overturning a previous order by President Obama that favored transgender rights in schools. It effectively returns the issue to the appeals court, which could change its decision based on Trump's order.

See the school board's original supportive resolution HERE.