iStock/Thinkstock(GLOUCESTER, Va.) — Students returned to school in Gloucester, Virginia on Tuesday under a cloud of uncertainty, as the state awaits a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding transgender bathroom access.
Gloucester, in particular, faces scrutiny as Virginians await word from the Supreme Court, because of a protest from Gloucester High School senior Gavin Grimm.
Grimm, a female-to-male student, sued the school board over their policy that requires students to use the restroom associated with its biological gender at birth or a private, single-stall restroom. A series of appeals that followed eventually brought the issue to the highest court in the land.
Grimm will not be permitted to use the same restroom as his male classmates — although he started living his life as a boy several years ago, he said.
The Supreme Court agreed in August to allow the Gloucester County School board the right to stop Grimm from using the boy’s bathroom — at least until the justices decide whether or not to examine an appeals court ruling of the case. Of the eight justices currently serving on the Supreme Court, four of them must agree to review Grimm’s case against the School Board for it to go forward.
Should it go forward, it would help bring one of the most fiercely debated cultural issues of 2016 that much closer to settlement and affect the lives of many transgender students beyond Grimm.
Grimm first received permission to use the boys’ restroom at the high school in 2014 for several weeks, after informing the school about his transition.
Then the school board adopted its current policy in December of 2014 as a response to the complaints of parents. The board voted 6-1 in favor of the new policy, according to public meeting minutes posted online.
The Gloucester County School Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News regarding the case.
Claire Gastañaga, the Executive Director of the ACLU Virginia, the organization that represents Grimm, told ABC News that she is “disappointed” with the fight the school board has waged against her client, and suggested that they “caved to pressure from parents” without giving appropriate consideration to the feelings of their student.
“Gavin has a right to be free from discrimination,” Gastañaga told ABC News.
She said that the ACLU expects the Supreme Court to review the case this fall.
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