A Virginia school board has appealed a
ruling favoring transgender student Gavin Grimm.
Grimm, 19, sued his school district for
the right to use the bathroom of his choice. In his lawsuit, Grimm
claims that his school policy violates Title IX of the U.S.
Constitution.
In March, the Supreme Court, which was
scheduled to hear Grimm's case, announced it would not consider the
case and sent it back to a lower court. Grimm's case rested heavily
on guidance issued last year by the Department of Education, which
stated that transgender students were protected under Title IX. The
Trump administration revoked the Obama-era guidance, saying that the
issue was better left up to the states. The reversal prompted the
high court to act.
Last month, Judge Arenda L. Wright
Allen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
declined a motion from the Gloucester County School Board to dismiss
Grimm's lawsuit and ordered both parties to participate in a
settlement conference. The judge called the board's arguments
“resoundingly unpersuasive.”
On Friday, the board appealed the
decision, the Portland Press Herald reported. The case now
heads to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Grimm, who graduated high school this
year, has said that he was continuing the fight for transgender
students who would come after him.