Actress Laverne Cox and Gavin Grimm,
the transgender teen at the center of the bathroom debate, appeared
Thursday on ABC's The View to discuss President Donald Trump's
decision to rescind school guidance on transgender students.
The Obama-era guidance from the
Education Department instructed public schools to allow transgender
students to use the bathroom of their choice.
(Related: Trump
rescinds Obama-era guidance on transgender students.)
The Supreme Court next month is
scheduled to hear arguments in Grimm's legal fight to use the
bathroom of his choice at his Virginia high school.
On The View, Grimm, a senior,
explained what went into his decision to sue his school board.
“It was a thought process that said
this is not right and this can't continue, so what steps can I take
to make sure I don't have to spend my high school career being
separated away from my peers,” Grimm said. “Unfortunately, that
seems like it's going to be happening anyway, but at this point we're
just really looking to doing whatever we can for people that come
after me.”
Cox, who asked Grammy viewers to
“google Gavin Grimm,” joined the panel via telephone.
“Why Gavin?” Cox rhetorically
asked. “I think Gavin has been chosen because Gavin is the person
who can handle it. He's so unbelievably articulate and composed.
He's so inspiring. And at the end of the day, we have to remember
that bathroom access really is not about bathrooms. … These
bathroom laws are about whether trans people have the right to exist
in public space. It's not a state's rights issue, it's a civil
rights issue.”
“The revoking of this order sends the
message that our lives don't matter, that we are second class
citizens, and that we should be treated differently, and stigmatized
and shamed,” Cox
added.